Way of the Ninja
by NaruNamikaze
Summary: The journey of Konoha's most unpredictable ninja, Uzumaki Naruto, who strives to become the village's greatest Hokage. However, this time around, the blonde genin has more to hide than just the Fox.
1. Prolouge

~ Way of the Ninja ~

* * *

Prologue

The weather was wonderful, and it was shaping out to be another beautiful day. Mister and Misses Takeda were out for their morning walk, and the lovely Nakamura twins were one their way to the women's bath (hee!). The Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato walked leisurely through the village, stopping occassionally to greet and talk with villagers out running their morning errands. Eventually his steps led him off the beaten path, just outside the village gates to a small section of trees off the edge of the road.

The one considered the strongest in the village had received many a greeting and kind word from passersby, but as he neared the old tree several meters away from the road, his eyes saddened at what he knew awaited him there.

"As nice as it is to sit and enjoy the nice weather we're having," He arrived at the tree's base, staring upwards into the large dark foliage above. His keen eyes almost immediately found what he sought, softening in slight amusement. "Shouldn't you be in class right now?"

There were a few terse moments of silence before branches shifted, revealing a messy mop of blonde hair peaking down at him. The Hokage's amsusement faded at the eyes staring back down at him. No child should have an expression containing such jadedeness, such world-weariness... it was just unnatural.

However, after a moment the blonde's expression shifted to amused resignation, "Uhuru-sensei kicked me out." came the reply. The way it was spoken would have lead most people to assume that it didn't really matter, but the Hokage knew differently. He wasn't Hokage for nothing, after all.

He studied the youth and frowned, taking note of the swelling on the child's face. Had the teacher actually struck one of her students? That would not do..."I see," he murmured. "I will just have to have a word with Uhuru-sensei and correct this problem."

The child paused, studying the older man with curious eyes. "Why would you do that?"

The Hokage blinked and then smiled. "I'm the Hokage," he answered. "It's my job to help everyone and make sure that they're safe and happy."

The blonde paused, and frowned before rising up and jumping down to the ground with an agility even some seasoned ninja didn't possess."Oh yeah...?" The child strode up to him, studying him with a measuring look. "If you really help everybody like you say, help her over there."

A tiny child's hand pointed out to beyond the trees, revealing a small pink-haired girl sitting on grass. She looked to be about the same age as the blonde, her clothes dusty and rumpled, her messy rose locks shielding a face red and splotchy with tears. She continued to sob, oblivious to their scrutiny.

"She's been like that a while," the blonde offered by way of explanation. "She was here even before me..."

The Hokage sighed sadly. He recognized her as the Haruno girl; she'd often been a victim of teasing by her peers because of the family traits she'd inherited - namely the pink hair and large forehead. Kids were often cruel, he knew; sadly, there wasn't much he could do. Seeing the blonde's expectant look, he rustled the messy locks affectionately, earning a half-hearted grunt of complaint.

"Well...?"

He sighed,"I'm afraid that hers is not a problem that can be solved with my power." The blonde balked at this. "Sometimes people do things regardless over how they will affect others... Even though I am Hokage, I can't make people treat each other with kindness-"

"Arrrgghh, people can be so dumb!" The Hokage's eyes fell on the blonde in suprise, taking note of the blue eyes shined with righteous indignation. So familiar... "Don't they know that's wrong? Why would be they pick on her if she's a nice person?" There was a pause. "Is it... 'cuz she's a girl..."

At that moment, the Sandaime Hokage felt all his years of age. He stared down at the blonde, barely five years of age, dressed in a shirt and shorts made clearly for  
someone far larger and older. At first glance, no one would possibly be able to tell that this child, too, was a girl. However, everyone knew that she too was often a  
victim of teasing and sometimes downright abuse. Yet, despite the treatment she received, her concerns lay with a girl she barely knew.

She was certainly something else...

"People aren't perfect," he responded.

"That's no excuse!" came the retort. The blonde huffed, crossing her short arms over her chest. "Some Hokage you are! I bet I could do your job better!"

Pushing his dark thoughts away, the Sandaime Hokage schooled his expression to one of patient amusement. "Are you now?"

The blonde nodded eagerly, rubbing her nose. "You bet! I'm gonna get strong and protect everyone! I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage ever - Uzumaki Naruto!"

That brought the Sandaime up short. "Naru... to...?"

A confident grin stole across the child's face. "That way, no one'll pick on me for bein' a girl! I'm gonna get stronger and prove to everybody that I can be a great  
ninja - believe it!"

In the distance, the Haruno girl ceased her tears as she was confronted by another blonde - the Hokage believed her to be of the Yamanaka brood - who offered some words that brought a tentative smile to her face. The blonde beside him took all this in, her grin never wavering. However, there was a wistfulness in her blue eyes that even he could not miss.

"Hey, Ojii-san?"

"Hm?"

The blonde scratched her head, shuffling a small sandaled foot in the grass. "I'm nt gonna get in trouble for this, am I?"

Whether she was referring to her life goal or current state of truancy, Saurtobi wasn't sure. Of course, in the long run it didn't really matter. To think that someone so young, who had faced such hardships, would aspire to such a noble goal. Sarutobi's eyes were wide as he stared at the child in front of him in stunned silence. However, her belief that her ridicule was a result of her gender alone... 'Why is it you have been forced to lead such a life...?' He gazed at the uncertainty in her eyes and his heart felt a deep sadness. He knew that despite her youthful reasonings, there was some validity to her plan. She would undoubtedly be safer if people did not know she was a girl - at least until she was strong enough to look after herself.

His power as Hokage would allow him to do this for her at least. He softened his gaze, causing the child to blink at him questioningly. "Of course not," he finally  
answered, "This old man will help you as much as he can."

Watching the gratitude bloom across her face brought him some comfort, but Sarutobi knew her problems would be far from over. Still, not wanting to dwell on such depressing thoughts - despite her age, the child was incredibly astute and observant - he took her hand gently in his and gave her a smile. "All right, now that we have that settled, I believe it's time we see about getting you a new teacher. I have just the one in mind, too - you've going to like him."

The child nodded her head eagerly. "Okay!"

* * *

End Prologue


	2. Chapter 01

Chapter 1

The figure quickly made his way through the forest, nimbly jumping from tree to tree without disturbing a single leaf. After traveling a great distance in only a short span of minutes he landed nimbly on a large branch. He scanned the trees briefly for any other signs of human life before reaching for the communication device secured in his ear.

"This is Scout One, state your position."

There was a cackle of static followed shortly by, "Scout Two, in position."

"Scout Three also in position."

There was a long stretch of silence, and the figured sighed heavily. "Scout Four, what is your position?"

The ear pieces cackled loudly with static and feedback, coupled with the tell-tale sounds of someone trying to properly adjust their radio, before a voice cheerfully responded, "Scout Four's 'bout 20 yards from the checkpoint with the package secure, Sen- er, Scout One!"

The scout leader nodded in acknowledgement, "We're ready to move in then," His hands formed a sign for the transportation jutsu. "Let's go!"

Three other voices cried out in unison, "Ryoukai!"

Each one vanished from sight.

ooo

A small blonde donned in orange stood alone on the forest path, keen blue eyes watching the surrounding area for any signs of attack. Before long there was a slight rustle in some nearby bushes that spurred the figure to draw a kunai from a pouch at his thigh, hurling it in that direction with a loud cry of, "Show yourself!"

The kunai flew straight and true, narrowily missing a dark haired youth's neck by inches. An accompanying pink haired girl screeched at the sight.

The dark haired youth fixed the blonde with an angry glare. "Watch it, Dobe."

The blonde stared at him with a squinted eyed glare before pointing an accusing finger in his face. "Wrong! That's not the password, Sasuke-teme!"

Silence fell over the trio before the pink-haired girl strode over to the blonde, her eyes alight with righteous anger. "YOU IDIOT!" came her high pitched growl, accompanied by the sound of a fist hitting flesh. The blonde yowled more in surprise than pain. "You could have hurt Sasuke-kun!" A dark look from him encouraged her to amend her statement. "That is...it would have... if Sasuke-kun  
weren't such a good ninja already..."

Said ninja looked away with an annoyed huff.

The blonde recovered from the blow quickly, looking up at the girl beseechingly. "But Sakura-chaaaan," came the whining reply. "I was just doing my job!"

Sakura looked ready to disagree, but anything she may have had to say was interrupted by the appearance of their Jounin sensei, an older, silver haired ninja with the majority of his face obscured by a black face mask and hitai-ate covering his left eye. His uncovered eye took in the three youths before him, drooping slightly in resigned amusement. "Now, now, children..." The emphasis on  
'children' did not go unnoticed by his three subordinates, the smallest in particular. The silver-haired turned his attention on the blonde, his eye questioning. "Speaking of jobs, Naruto... I recall you saying the package was secure...?"

The blonde snapped to attention, nodding eagerly. "That's right, Kakashi-sensei, safe and sound!"

There was a long stretch of silence before Kakashi finally relented and sighed, "Where...?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh yeah!" The other three members of the group let out heavy sighs as the blonde turned from the group and ran over to a large tree in the distance. Drawing out a kunai and tapping on the trunk three times, the blonde called up into the branches, "All right, the coast is clear!"

Before long, an exact replica of the blonde hopped down to the ground, carrying an old woman on its back piggy-back style. The woman was dressed in a simple traveling yukata, her gray hair pulled up in a plain knot at the back of her head. Setting her down on the ground gently and giving her a quick once over to assure the was unharmed, it gave a fox-like grin and vanished into a poof of smoke.

The old woman pushed a few stray bangs out of her face, letting out an exhilerated laugh. "Well now, wasn't that fun!" She reached for the traveling pack on her back, pulling free a walking stick she had secured under one of its flaps. Turning unusually pale blue eyes in the blonde's general direction, she smiled and asked, "So, are we ready to move on?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, only to be cut off by a fuming Sakura. Seeing her expression, he took a quick step back, arms tensing to protect his head from further trauma.

"Naruto..." she said in clipped tones. "You did NOT hide our client up in a tree..." Though she maintained the illusion of calm, Inner Sakura raged. *YOU BIG APE? DON'T YOU HAVE ANY MANNERS AT ALL?! SHAAAA!*

The blonde blinked at her innocently. "What? We both thought it was a good idea... 'Sides, it's not like I left her up there by herself."

Kakashi, meanwhile, had to struggle not to laugh. The blonde certainly deserved the title of Most Unpredictable ninja... His grades in the Academy had by abysmal, hence his status as 'Dead Last', but since joining the ranks of Team 7, he had shown that he possessed the ability to find unique ways to go about solving a problem. For instance, their current mission involved escorting an old woman to visit her daughter and son in law outside of the village. It was assumed that as a member of the Konoha Council (she had taken the seat once her husband passed on - at least that is what Kakashi had been told ) Iwano Miyako was to be treated with a certain amount of decorum and  
respect. The Jounin still remembered the stern lecture Iruka had given the blonde before introducing them to their client. However, oddly enough, before leaving the village the old woman insisted that she was not to be coddled under any circumstances... even if she was blind.

'I suppose Naruto's just following her instructions,' The silver haired ninja mused. He couldn't let Sakura pummel the poor kid for heeding her request. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd come to any harm under his care - as a matter of fact, she seemed to be having quite the time. How unusual... "It's all right, Sakura," he said finally. "Naruto did just fine."

It was hard to say who looked more surprised by his words. "But Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "What if she had fallen out of the tree?"

Naruto pouted. "You saw - I had a Kage Bunshin with her!"

"Now, now," the old woman interjected, feeling outwards until her hand found Sakura's shoulder, giving it a reassuring pat. "You needn't worry about me, dear girl. I'm blind, not made of glass." Sakura had the good nature to blush in embarrassment, muttering a soft apology. The old woman smiled and then turned her head towards Kakashi. "Shall we move on, Hatake-san?"

What an interesting old lady... Kakashi chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."

ooo

Without any further adieu, the five of them continued their trek back to the village. There hadn't been any altercations thus far, but knowing they still had to be wary of bandits (Iwano-san well known as a very influential and wealthy woman in Hi no Kuni) Kakashi and Sakura took the lead, while Sasuke brought up the rear, leaving Naruto to walk alongside Iwano-san in the middle. Neither one seemed to be troubled by the arrangement.

Kakashi pondered this as he leafed through the pages of his precious Icha Icha Paradise. Initially, charging Naruto with the guarding of their client whilst the others scouted the area had been meant as a tests of sorts, to see whether or not the blonde could be trusted to behave as a  
ninja should in these types of situations. After all, ever since meeting the kid, Kakashi had been well-aware that manners were not something he used in abundance. It was his hope that the experience would be humbling... for him and the client. Despite his duty to the village, Kakashi  
had always found the politicians to be a nuisance. Many of them had never had to lift a kunai in their lives, they were ignorant and uncaring to the trials shinobi had to undergo just to keep their homes safe. He'd expected Iwano to be no different - an uptight, snobbish old woman with  
too much baggage (figurative and literal) and more demands than a 3-man cell of 12 year olds could hope to carry out.

However, Iwano Miyako hadn't met a single on of his expectations. She'd arrived with only the pack on her back, and an eager grin to get on the road. Upon learning that most of her trip would be spent in the company of Naruto (he'd almost felt guilty at the look of apprehension that skirted across the blonde's face, hidden quickly under his patented squinty eyed expression), the old woman had only nodded, bowed, and dove into a tale about her last trip to Kusagakure. And as expected of someone who had never left the country, let alone the village, the blonde had given her his undivided attention.

"...about how far are we now, Hatake-san?"

Speaking of undivided attention... He glanced down from his book, glancing back at the old woman. ""We're not far from the village now, Iwano-sama," he supplied.

"Oh good. I must say this has been an enjoyable trip." she smiled, turning an inquiring glance in his direction. "I trust it was educational for your students?"

That almost brought him up short. It was true that this was the first escort mission Team 7 had undertaken, but how had she known that? If they'd told her that back when the mission was assigned, wouldn't she have asked for a team with more experience? That's what most politicians would have done. It seemed Iwano Miyako was of the unpredictable sort as well...

Sakura turned back with a puzzled expression on her face. "Educational?" she asked.

Iwano-san grinned. "Why yes! Your sensei was drilling you on reconnaissance wasn't he? A ninja must always have keen observation skills - in fact, it's one of the most important skills they can have. Surely your teachers taught you that?"

"Of course he did!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes, though he was certain Sakura and Sasuke did not. For someone who did so poorly in school, it was surprising how much the blonde looked up to the Chunin instructor. Turning a page in his book, he decided to contribute to the conversation. "Ninja rule number one - a ninja must always look underneath the underneath."

Iwano-san nodded enthusiastically. It was strange to see in someone so old - the woman was healthy (no doubt due to her excursions outside the village), but she had to be at least 70! "A ninja must be able to see through deception. They must be keen, alert at all times. Even though I am blind, I consider myself to be very observant. To make up for my lack of sight, my other senses have honed themselves to point where sight almost seems unnecessary." She paused, allowing her listeners to take all this in. Sakura and Naruto looked up at her in awe, while Sasuke maintained a steady air of indifference. Iwano continued on, "For instance, Hatake-san, I can hear each page you  
turn in that book of yours." Kakashi paused, glancing back at the almost knowing grin on her face. "It must be very interesting - your heart is beating very quickly."

'Damn, she's good.' His three genin fixed him with with bland stares, resulting in his giving a crescent-eyed grin.

"But there's more to being a ninja than just knowing how to observe others," Iwano said, her tone and posture much like a teacher givinga lecture despite her hand been affixed to Naruto's shoulder in lieu of her walking stick. "What you must also know... is how to act when you are being observed."

Intrigued, Kakashi put his book away.

"For example, as a member of our village's Council, I am a very important dignitary, yes?" she asked. "If another politician, powerful like myself, planned to attend an event in a dangerous territory how would they go about requesting assistance? For the person responsible for assigning missions, the first thought would be to hire out some big flashy guard detail, yes?"

The Jounin remained silent, waiting to see what his students would say.

It was silent a few seconds before the Uchiha responded with his usual grunt, followed by, "It depends."

Iwano turned her head back his direction. "Yes?"

"On a number of things," Sakura replied. "What kind of dignitary are you? Are you the type that has a lot of enemies? Where is the event being held? All of these things are taken into consideration when the mission is assigned a rank."

"This is true, my dears," Iwano-san smiled patiently. "But I believe you are missing my point." Both Sakura and Sasuke looked surprised. Naruto looked slightly puzzled. "If your client is the kind bound to draw a lot of friendly attention, is it wise to hire every able-bodied Chunin and Jounin to guard them?"

Catching on to the point she was trying to get across, Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "High-security escort missions are usually assigned to a small number of ninja, exclusively to those who can the client to and from their destination quickly, quietly, and safely."

Sasuke smirked at the blonde walking a few feet ahead of him, beside their client. "Doubt you'll be seeing any missions like that, Dobe."

Naruto turned to him with a growl. "What're you tryin' ta say, Teme?!" Sasuke only snorted in response, insighting the blonde's anger even further. It was only Iwano-san's hand still resting on his shoulder that kept him from lashing out in retaliation

"Naruto!" Sakura barked. "Don't you yell at Sasuke-kun!"

Kakashi sighed. How predictable. Hoping to avoid any unnecessary altercations between the two, the silver haired Jounin turned back to the old woman. "You were saying, Iwano-sama?"

"Oh yes," Iwano said. "One of the greatest tools in a ninja's arsenal is the element of surprise. The point I was trying to make is that sometimes the best person for the job is the one that the enemy wuold least exepct..." She paused, turning her head to the blonde beside her. "Take Uzumaki-kun for example..."

That certainly brought the rest of Team 7 up short. "What?"

The squinty eyed expression returned to Naruto's face, but Kakashi couldn't help but notice it looked somewhat more forced than usual.

"These roads are notorious for being fraught with bandits looking to rob a defenseless old woman like me," She paused and grinned. "Surely they wouldn't expect to find me hiding in a tree?"

Valid reasoning, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

Iwano-san went on. "Uzumaki-kun is quite a creative ninja, I find." She turned back to him, oblivious to the strange expression on his whiskered face. Even Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of it. "I've heard a bit about your exploits back in the village, as well... I can tell that your teammates don't seem to think much of your skills, but to be able to deface a national monument in broad daylight  
is a feat not many ninja can boast..."

A proud smirk made its way across the blonde's face.

Both Sakura and Sasuke groaned.

"But he eventually got caught, you know..." Sakura supplied.

This much was true, Kakashi thought. However, from what he'd heard from colleagues, it was his school teacher, Umino Iruka who apprehended him after the deed was done. Somehow, the blonde had been able to evade both seasoned Jounin and ANBU after committing the act. Iwano-san was right - how many genin could attest to that?

"All the same," Iwano replied, smiling at Naruto. "It is my belief that you have the makings of a great ninja."

Naruto ran a hand through his messy blonde locks, laughing abashedly. "You bet I do, Obaa-san!" he crowed. "Some day I'm gonna be the GREATEST ninja - Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage!"

Kakashi glanced back at them, a thoughtful glint in his eye.

Iwano glanced up at him. "Is something wrong, Hatake-san?" she asked. His students' eyes turned to him as well.

"No," he replied. "Everything's fine."

"You hear what she said, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned at his pink-haired teammate, chest puffed up in pride. "Obaa-san says I'm gonna be a great ninja! Can you believe that? Huh?"

The look on her face obviously said no. She scoffed at him, "Not if you don't stop behaving like a complete doofus. Painting faces on the Hokage Monument... honestly..."

The blonde instantly deflated. "Sakura-chaaaaan..."

Kakashi glanced up ahead, taking in the of the large gate in the distance. They were upon them within mere minutes, and after checking in with the two Chunin at the check post, they entered into the familiar village of Konoha.

"Ah, we've arrived, Iwano-sama." he replied, stopping and turning to face their client.

She inclined her head, taking in the sounds of the bustling village around them and then nodded her head satisfactorily. "Very good. A job well done, Team Seven."

"Would you like for us to escort you home, Iwano-sama?" Sakura offered.

Iwano-san smiled. "That won't be necessary, dear." she answered. "I know this village like the back of my hand - I'm sure I'll be just fine." She gave them a curteous bow. "Thank you for your assistance. You've made this old lady's trip very interesting."

Interesting was not the word he would have chosen, but Kakashi supposed it would have to do. At her bow, he inclined his head politely. "It was our pleasure, Iwano-sama. Don't hesitate to call on us again should you need us." With that said, he turned to leave, his students trailing behind him.

Iwano made to walk away as well, but stopped and turned back to them. "Oh, Uzumaki-kun!" All the members of Team 7 stopped, looking back. Naruto only blinked. "I wish you luck in your goal of becoming the first female Hokage! Kami knows it'll be about time!" She bowed once more, and then walked away humming an old tune under her breath.

No one spoke for several moments.

Once again, Sasuke was the one to break the silence with a grunt. "What a weird old woman."

Glad that the mood had been broken, Kakashi let out a soft chuckle. "She certainly was interesting. Well, team, I declare this mission a success." He fished in his side pouch, drawing out his beloved book once more. "I'm going to go report in - meet me at the bridge tomorrow at 9 for our next assignment."

The three knew they wouldn't see him until noon, but they nodded nonetheless.

Naruto let out a little squeal of victory, bouncing up and down as if they had not just spent the whole day walking. "Yes! Mission accomplished! I gotta go tell Iruka-sensei!" With that he dashed off, no doubt to drag the unsuspecting teacher off to Ichiraku to recount his current exploits. Kakashi grinned.

Watching him go, Sakura huffed slightly. "What a weirdo! I don't get him at all!" Who did, really? She turned to Sasuke, who merely stared elsewhere with a bored look on his face, then to Kakashi who was about to poof away. "Shouldn't he have flipped out at Iwano-sama for calling him a girl?"

Kakashi glanced away from his book at the question. It certainly seemed like the kind of reaction the blonde would give - look at how he reacted when someone mentioned his height (or lack thereof). It wasn't as if he could blame him for being upset... who wanted to be the shortest genin as well as the last in the graduating class? However, given how well he seemed to have gotten along with  
Iwano-sama and the good behavior he had displayed for the majority of the trip, perhaps Naruto had just decided to let it slide. After all, how mad could you get at someone for making that kind of error when they were blind?

"Hm," he answered. "It's just a sign that Naruto's finally growing u-" He paused at his two remaining students' disbelieving stares and the and the fact that his words sounded ridiculous even to his own ears.

"...Nah."

Deeming the matter too unimportant to dedicate anymore time to, Sasuke turned to walk away. "I'm going home."

Of course, the kunoichi beside him perked up, trailing after him. "Sasuke-kun! Do you wanna-?"

"No."

Kakashi shook his head. He supposed not everyone could be as unpredictable as Naruto. Letting the matter drop, he headed to the Hokage Tower, disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

ooo

"So, Kakashi, your team back from your mission?"

Kakashi glanced upwards, nodding his head at Asuma and Kurenai approaching him from down the hall, no doubt they were both reporting in from their own missions. "That's right." he answered.

The Jounin instructors of team 8 and 10 exchanged knowing looks.

Asuma grinned around his ever present cigarette. "So, how'd it go?"

Kakashi closed his eye in a grin. "It was... interesting."

Kurenai studied him with deep red eyes. "An escort mission, I take it?"

The silver haired Jounin nodded. "Council woman Iwano Miyako." At Asuma's laugh he paused. "But I take it you already knew this."

"Since this is your first genin team, I'm sure you didn't know..." The bearded Jounin paused to take a drag from his cigarette. Kurenai frowned slightly at him in distaste.

'No luck getting him to quit yet, eh, Yuuhi-san?'

Flicking away a few embers, Asuma continued, "Iwano-sama likes to hire out the Genin teams to do missions for her - escorts mostly... She gives an evaluation to the Council to each team she hires - she kind of like a final test for new Genin squads."

"A final test...?"

"That's correct." The three Jounin looked up to see the Hokage coming towards them down the hall. They all bowed, chorusing out "Hokage-sama" in unison. The old village head only smiled. "You three might not be away of this, but Miyako-san is actually a retired ninja."

"Really?" Kurenai replied, eyes wide in surprise. "I hadn't known that..."

"I had my suspicions," Kakashi said. The others glanced at him. "She gave quite a lecture to my students on the advantages of good observation skills."

Sarutobi nodded. "An accident during a mission during her days as a genin left her blinded. However, rather than give up her career as a ninja, Miyako pushed herself and honed her other senses to compensate for her lack of sight. In fact, in her day Miyako was one of our finest tracking ninja. She led an ANBU squad responsible solely for tracking down missing persons and nuke-nin." Sarutobi continued. At the Jounins' surprised look, he chuckled. "Although she's been retired for some time."

Kakashi recalled her words on their trek back to the village. ~ To make up for my lack of sight, my other senses have honed themselves to point where sight almost seems unnecessary. ~

'I see,' he thought. 'By fine tuning all her other senses - sound, smell, taste, touch, chakra... she made it so she could find out all she needed without having to use her sight.' He smirked. 'She probably could have found her way without our help!'

"That said, what did Iwano-sama have to say about your students, Kakashi?" Kurenai asked, smiling.

Sarutobi glanced at him. Kakashi knew that what they really wanted to know was what she had to say about Naruto. It was no secret that many people - despite their views on his 'situation' - didn't think he had what it took to be a proper ninja. Running around in bright orange and being the last in your class had the tendency to do that, he supposed.

He closed his eye. "She said they were interesting." Sarutobi made a sound of approval. "And she spent most of the trip with Naruto."

"Really?" Asume grinned, impressed. "And what did she have to say about Konohagakure's Number 1 Hyperactive Ninja?"

Kakashi paused, scratching his head. "She thinks he has what it takes to be the first female Hokage..."

Both Asuma and Kurenai blinked. "Huh...?"

Sarutobi, to their surprise, laghed out loud. "Ah, that Miyako... always with the jokes..." There was a strange glint to the Hokage's eyes - quite similar to the expression Naruto had sported earlier. However, before Kakashi could question him about it, the old man was already walking away.

Watching him go, Asuma scratched at his beard with a puzzled expression on his face. "Well, maybe she's slipping in her old age..."

Kurenai could only shrug.

Still, Kakashi could only wonder.

* * *

End Chapter 1


	3. Chapter 02

Chapter 2

Despite swearing by the rule of looking 'underneath the underneath' Kakashi had known upon first meeting his students what kind of  
people they were. In fact, he'd slapped a label on each of them the moment he laid eyes on them.

Uchiha Sasuke - Angsty Avenger

Haruno Sakura - Kunoichi Wannabe

Uzumaki Naruto - Brainless Prankster

Of course, he quickly came to realize that he'd sorely underestimated them when they managed to be the first genin to pass his bell test.  
He'd hated to admit that they'd shown themselves to possess a modicum of skill since then, but for the most part he still stood by his  
previous assumptions as far as his first two students were concerned. The Uchiha spent most of his time sulking and brooding disregarding everyone and everything that did not pertain to helping him achieve his 'goal'. Haruno followed after him like a love sick puppy, taking his rejections in stride, never once considering the fact that he didn't seem to be interested in anything she had to offer him.

Predictable.

However, when it came to the blonde, Kakashi found himself a bit puzzled. Since becoming a Genin, Naruto had all but ceased his reign  
of prankster terror on the village. That wasn't to say he wasn't still as hyper and obnoxious as ever, but it lead Kakashi to believe that despite his fumblings, the kid was actually quite serious about becoming a ninja. And then of course, there were the developments of their last mission. Iwano-sama had believed Naruto had the potential to become a great ninja - Hokage even.

~ "One of the greatest tools in a ninja's arsenal is the element of surprise."~ Iwano had said. ~ "The point I was trying to make is that sometimes the best person for the job is the one that the enemy would least exepct..." ~

And Naruto was nothing if not unpredictable.

"Aarrrghhh, shut UP, Teme!"

Kakashi glanced up from his book, staring down at his students from his perch on a large rock. Sakura and Sasuke currently stood at the foot of a large tree in the middle of the forest, matching looks of irritation directed at Naruto. Said blonde teammate was high above them in the same tree, cautiously edging out towards the striped cat resting out on a far branch.

Sasuke ignored the blonde's angry tone. "Hurry it up." he ground out. "You're wasting time!"

"That's right!" Sakura chimed in. "If you had just let Sasuke-kun go up there to get the cat, we would have been done ages ago!" She turned to Sasuke with a dreamy sigh, no doubt envisioning him carrying out daring rescues of said feline.

Sasuke ignored her as well.

Naruto ignored them both, turning his sights back to the cat with a slight pout on his face. "Stupid cat."

The Jounin turned his gaze to the blonde before turning his eye back to his reading. "Be careful up there, Naruto..." he cautioned. "A fall from that height could kill you."

The blonde continued to inch slowly towards the preening cat. "No worries, sensei," he grinned pointing out at the rushing river over which the branches of the tree extended. "There's always the water."

Kakashi paused and then frowned, muttering, "Like that's any better..." He sighed. 'And here I thought Iwano-sama had the right idea...'

~ "A ninja must be able to see through deception" ~ she had said. And yet, as a blind ninja skilled in the art of gathering information, she had somehow come to be convinced that Naruto was a girl. He frowned. Ruling out the thought of him trying to remain polite, the pair had spent the majority of the trip together - surely Naruto wouldn't let her come to such a conclusion without stopping to correct her.

Kakashi's mind conjured up an angry Naruto throwing a temper tantrum in front of the blind woman yelling, "I'm a boy, damn it!" and he would have laughed had not the whole situation been so absurd. Naruto WAS a boy... so why hadn't he corrected her?

Oblivious to his thoughts, Naruto edged closer to the cat. Tensing his body, he sprung outwards, making a grab for the cat. "Gotcha,  
cat!" he crowed.

Down below, Sakura slapped a hand to her forehead. "Sheesh, Naruto, try to show a little more tact, please?"

"What're you talkin' about?" Naruto blinked, holding the cat in his arms, standing out on the branch. "I got the cat -see?" He held the animal outwards for her to see, but unfortunately the movement cause the cat to panic, clawing at his arms wildly. The blonde yelped in surprise, letting go of the animal, only to have it jump down from the tree and land safely in Sasuke's arms.

Naruto, however, was not so lucky. The force the cat used to propel itself away from him, sent him sprawling and windmill backwards, knocking the back of his head on an overhead branch before tumbling down into the water below.

Sakura screamed, clapping her hands over her mouth in horror. "NARUTO!"

The sound pulled Kakashi away from his book. Meeting his eye, the kunoichi pointed to the water. He jumped down the ground, his eye scanning the recently disturbed waters. Surely the kid could swim?

"He hit his head!" Sakura supplied, her green eyes light with worry. "He's unconscious!"

"Damn it!" Icha Icha was quickly tossed to the ground as the Jounin made his way into the water.

Sakura and Sasuke (and Tora-kun) waited anxiously by the water's edge for any sign of them. After a few seconds they were rewarded as Kakashi quickly broke the surface and made his way back towards the bank, a water logged Naruto in tow. Once he was far enough from the water, he set Naruto down in the grass.

A frown was evident on Sasuke's face. "He's not breathing."

Tears sprung to Sakura's eyes as she turned to Kakashi anxiously. "Sensei...?"

Kakashi could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. Of all the... "Just stay back!" he snapped. The two young genin obeyed as he pulled open their comrade's jacket. Prepared to initiate CPR, he brought his hands together over blonde's chest, pausing for half a second when something suddenly came to his attention. 'What...?! You're kidding?'

After a few repetitions, Naruto stirred, coughing up water. Gently Kakashi turned to blonde to the side, patting his back.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief, as their teammate slowly sat up. "Naruto... are you-?" She apused, her words dying in her throat.

Jacket wide open and slick with water, Naruto appeared to be possession of two particular things that boys were NOT supposed to  
have.

Sasuke's usual expression of annoyance was replaced by morbid confusion. "What... the hell...?"

The blonde, still groggy and disoriented, followed their gazes before letting out an eep and tugging the jacket shut with a fierce blush.

Kakashi's expression was void of emotion. "Sakura, Sasuke," His tone brooked no argument, and the two youths snapped to attention. "Go back to the village and return Tora-kun to the Daimyo's wife."

Sasuke glanced down, surprised to find he still held the content cat in his arms.

The Jounin stood up, brushing his wet hair back out of his eyes. "I'll make sure Naruto's all right and then we'll catch up."

Sakura shifted uneasily. "But, Sense-"

"That was an order, Sakura."

The Uchiha nodded slightly before pushing a still hesitating Sakura in the direction of the village.

Kakashi waited until they were out of sight before closing his eye with a heavy sigh. "Well, now that they're gone," He turned to the blonde, looking decidedly small in the puddle of water. "How about you start explaining yourself... 'Naruto'..."

The blonde only gulped.

ooo

With the help of a quick katon, Kakashi was able to start a quick fire and hang their heavier layers of clothing up to dry on a branch. His eye took in the orange garment hanging next to his jounin vest over the fire before falling to its owner. The blonde was sitting on opposite him, staring sullenly into the flames. Despite all his years as a ninja, Kakashi still couldn't wrap his mind around the situation. It seemed ridiculous to even assume that such a thing was possible, but the proof was there right in front of him. Of course, without the bulky jacket on, it was much more obvious to see what Iwano had known all along.

Uzumaki Naruto WAS a girl.

He stared at the blonde, forcing him ( 'her' Kakashi's mind had to correct himself) to meet his eye. "So, you gonna start talking?"

Naruto looked away, frowning. "What do you expect me to say...?"

It was strange seeing the kid so subdued. Still, he was not to be deterred. This was a serious matter. "Well," he drawled. "You can start by telling me why you never mentioned that you were a girl."

The genin squinted angrily at the ground. "I never said that I wasn't!"

That was true. More pieces of the puzzle came together. "And that's why you never bothered to correct Iwano-sama."

Naruto glared up at him with piercing blue eyes. "You're the one who told me to 'see through deception', Kakashi-sensei!" So he had, during their bell test. "I thought you knew!"

He should have, and that bothered him greatly. "You weren't exactly broadcasting it," he said. 'Like most kunoichi tend to...' "If anything," He studied her. "It seems like you were trying to hide that fact."

She flinched guiltily. "So what if people got the wrong idea!" she exclaimed. "I didn't lie!"

"All right then," the Jounin conceded. "Say I believe you," Naruto's face flashed in hurt before falling into an angry squint once again. "Who else knows?"

She paused, "Who else?" She scratched her head in thought. "Well... Hokage-jiji does... he said it was okay if I didn't tell anybody...  
He said I'd be safer."

That brought Kakashi up short. Why hadn't it occured to him that that would be part of her reasoning? 'She's never been very well liked in the village because of her 'tenant'... it's no wonder she wanted to stay beneath the radar...'

Naruto continued on, "And Iruka-sensei knows, oh and so does Ichiraku-oyaji and Ayame-neesan!"

Iruka he could understand, but the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen stand and his daughter? "You told them but you didn't think to tell your own teammates?"

The blonde's eyes darkened as they met his. "It's not like either of them care..." she muttered in a tone that seemed so unlike Naruto. "And besides, Neesan figured it out on her own."

oo Flashback oo

A young blonde child scrambled up onto a stool at the ramen stand, grinning at chef's daughter with whiskered cheeks. "Shrimp, chicken, and pork, please, Neesan!"

The older girl smiled down at the child. "Coming right up." She set about serving up the order, pausing to glance at the girl.  
"Naruto-kun?"

The child slurped up a helping of ramen before turning questioning blue eyes her way. "Yah, Neesan?"

Ayame smiled gently. "Your birthday was a the other day wasn't it?"

The blonde blinked and then looked down. "Un."

Teuchi smiled sadly before nodding to Ayame. The brown haired cook reached underneath the counter before pulling out a small package and setting it next to the blonde. "Here, you are... Happy belated birthday!"

Naruto blinked, staring at the package. At their encouraging nods, she slowly opened the package, pulling out a spiral pendant held on a leather rope. "This... is for me...?"

Ayame smiled. "Every girl needs something to make her feel pretty, ne?" She gave the younger girl a conspiratorial wink.

The younger girl stared at the pendant, unaware of the tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "Th... thank you..."

oooo

Kakashi stared at the young blonde as her eyes came back into focus - what had she been remembering, he wondered - before she glanced back up at him.

"So," she said softly. "What now, Sensei?"

"Hm?"

She stared down at her feet, tugging absently at the grace beneath her. "Am I kicked out of Team 7 now?" The Jounin blinked. He hadn't expected that. "If so... please don't send Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme back the Academy! It's my fault - I don't want them to get into trouble - huh?"

Kakashi placed a hand on her head, stilling her words. "We in Team 7 do not abandon friends, Naruto. You forgot that already?"

Naruto blinked at him with wide blue eyes. "Kakashi-sensei...?" He couldn't tell if she were going to laugh or cry.

He rose to his feet. "We'd better head back," he replied. He glanced back at her with an eye grin. "They probably think I've tossed you back into the river."

Naruto only laughed weakly.

oooo

Once their clothes were dry, the two made their way back to the village in silence. Upon reaching the gates once again, sure enough, Sakura and Sasuke awaited them.

Sakura spotted them first, pointing. "Look, there they are!"

Sasuke, who stood leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, opened one dark eye to fix them with a disinterested look before closing it again.

"Ah, Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi said, pretending to be surprised. "You waited for us."

Sakura nodded, continuously shooting quick glances at Naruto. "We returned the cat to the Fire Daimyo's wife, Sensei. We just wanted to... well, we wanted... that is..." She struggled with herself before pointed an accusing finger at Naruto, exploding. "YOU'RE A GIRL?!"

In a surprising move, Naruto jumped back behind Kakashi to hide.

Puzzled at her reaction, Kakashi waved a hand lazily. "Now, now... explanations will come later. For now, I'm sure Naruto just needs to go home and get a good re-" He turned back to glance at the blonde only to find him missing.

"Gone?" Sakura blinked in confusion. Even Sasuke looked surprised. "Where'd he... I mean she... where's Naruto?!"

A frown made its way across Sasuke's face as he stared at where the blonde had once stood. 'Naruto...'

* * *

End Chapter 2


	4. Chapter 03

Chapter 3

By the time Naruto made her way down from the Hokage monument, the skies were a dusky red and the evening lanterns had already been lit. She was a bit surprised that she'd gone so long without being discovered - usually only an hour or two would go by before Iruka showed up to scold her for her latest act of mischief. As it was, she'd almost dozed off atop the head of the Yondaime Hokage - she felt most comfortable here for some reason - before realizing that no one would be coming for her.

A small pout made its way across her face. 'Why should anyone come?' she thought to herself. 'It's not like I did anything bad.'

And yet she'd run away from her teammates following the accidental discovery of her secret. Kakashi had assured her on their trek back to the village that no harm would come from Sasuke and Sakura knowing her true gender, but Naruto had been able to hide the uneasiness she felt at their confused stares. There would be questions she knew - questions she could not give answers to. She decided years ago to masqurade as a boy in order to protect herself. Why? Because people had a tendency to attack the small child who'd been unfortunate enough to be chosen to house the most feared and reviled of all Bijuu.. Oh, she could only imagine what they'd have to say to that...

'It's no big deal...'Naruto told herself, idly kicking at a pebble beneath her sandaled foot. She watched it bounce along one of the rocks making up the Yondaime's hair before vanishing from sight. 'Baka Yondaime-sama...' Despite everything she'd learned that fateful night following graduation, deep down the girl could find no fault with the deceased Hokage. After all, wasn't it the duty of the village's ninja to protect everyone else? They had to be strong in face of all sorts of trials.

'That's gonna be my job someday,' She rose to her feet, brushing the dust from her pants. Making her way down the rocky cliffside, the blonde made her way back into the village proper, pulling her jacket back on as she went. It was still slightly damp, but Naruto didn't really mind - she'd dealt with far worse. 'I promised myself that I was gonna be a strong ninja...'

But what to do about her teammates? Would they still accept her knowing that she had kept such a secret from them? And what of her being a Jinchuuriki, should she tell them about that, too?

"No," She shook her head, thick blonde locks falling in her face to obscure her vision briefly. 'They don't need to know that. It's gonna be tough enough as it is.' A rueful grin made its way across her face. 'Let's just face one challenge at a time, ne?'

"Naruto... is that you over there?" The blonde looked back at the sound of approaching footsteps. The Sandaime Hokage was coming towards her from the direction of the Hokage Tower, Iwano Miyako at his side.

Naruto cocked her head, taking in the blind woman's attire. Gone was the simple traveling yukata - in place of it the council woman was dressed in an elegant kimono, her hair done up in an elaborate bun with a jade comb holding the style in place. "Sandaime-jiji..." Her depressing thoughts momentarily forgotten, the blonde skipped up to the elderly couple with a foxy grin threatening to split her face. "You two on a date or somethin'?"

Sarutobi blinked and then sputtered at the genin as Iwano let out an unexpected guffaw. "Oh goodness no, Uzumaki-kun!" she laughed. "You have such an active imagination!"

Naruto only grinned.

The Sandaime guided Iwano-sama forward so that she could give the blonde a greeting pat on the head. "Actually, Naruto," he explained. "Iwano-sama was just telling me about her recent trip with Team 7 as her escort. She told me she was quite impressed by you and your teammates."

The blonde beamed at the praise.

As if sensing this, Iwano grinned. "I meant what I told you earlier, Uzumaki-kun," she said. "You're going to make an excellent kunoichi." Shuffling her feet slightly, Naruto nodded and glanced down at the ground, her chipper mood diminished somewhat at the thought of facing her teammates again. At her silence, Iwano tilted her head in curiosity. "Have I said something wrong...?"

"Um, no..."

Sarutobi studied the blonde's face, a slight frown coming to his face. "I see that your teammates now know the truth."

Naruto nodded but did not lift her head.

Sightless eyes blinking, Iwano turned her head in the Sandaime's direction. "What do you mean, Sarutobi?"

Sarutobi sighed. "I believe that Naruto's teammates were unaware that she was a girl," He rubbed his beard. "It was decided that that information should be kept a secret so that Naruto might be protected."

The councilwoman gasped. "Oh dear... and I went and gave you away!" She turned her head in Naruto's direction, a worried look on her face. "I am so sor-"

"S'all right, Obaa-san," Naruto interjected. She folded her arms behind her head, fixing the fox grin back in place. "It was bound to happen sooner or later." She would have much preferred later, but there wasn't much to be done about that now...

"What will you do now?" the Hokage asked.

Intense blue eyes met his. "I told you I was gonna surpass you some day, didn't I, jiji?" Sarutobi nodded, remembering the declaration made by the blonde all those years ago. "Now that my secret's out, it's probably time I drop the act as well."

The old ninja nodded. He'd learned quickly that when the blonde had come to the decision to become a ninja, her gender was not the only thing she wished to conceal.

~ "I'm gonna get stronger and prove to everybody that I can be a great ninja - believe it!" ~ Those were the words she'd spoken to him all those years ago. And despite the facade she presented to everyone, Sarutobi knew she'd stuck by her word.

'Such an amazing child...'

Clenching a fist at her side, Naruto stared back at the Hokage monument. "I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage someday," she vowed. Her eyes fell on the image of the Fourth, her eyes narrowing in determination. However, she quickly looked away, grinning back at the two elder ninja. "Or else my name isn't Uzumaki Naru!" She laughed, turning on one foot and dashing away. "See ya later!"

Sarutobi watched until she vanished down the street, releasing a heavy sigh. He turned back to Iwano. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I told you once before and I stand by my word, Sarutobi," Iwano said with a serious expression on her face. "That girl is remarkable. To know the lengths she's gone to protect herself, the treatment she's endured... and yet she wants to become Hokage despite all that." Her expression saddened. "Our village is full of fools!"

Sarutobi didn't speak, choosing instead to look up at the face of the Yondaime. Each time he gazed upon the rocky visage of his deceased successor, he felt a little bit older.

~ "This child... is the hero of our village..." ~ Intense blue eyes clouded in pain had stared down at the infant bundle in his arms. ~ "I'm depending on you, Sandaime-sama..."~

And despite all his efforts, he was still failing. They all were. "It was his dying wish to see her cherished, thanked for her sacrifice..." Sarutobi's eyes were pained. "He wanted her to live, to be happy, to become something great..."

"Naru...To grow..." Iwano murmured softly. "She has done that, Hokage-sama, I can tell.. far more than anyone thinks." The Hokage nodded in agreement. The two of them stood in silence a few moments before she tapped her cane against the road, breaking the silence. "Rest assured I will see to it that the Council does not block your decision." Sarutobi made a sound of surprise. "Have you forgotten the clout this old woman has, Sarutobi-sama! When Iwano Miyako asks, so shall it be done!"

He laughed out loud. "How could I have forgotten?" He then fixed her with a serious expression. "Are you certain though?"

"They certainly proved they were capable," Iwano said, nodding her head with a grin. "Make my words, Sarutobi-sama, Team 7 is going to get that mission!"

oooo

Academy Instructor and Chunin ranked Umino Iruka was just finishing a stack of test papers when there was a sudden knock at the classroom door. Sensing no threat, he set down his correcting pen, calling out to the person to enter. His brown eyes widened only slightly at the sight of Hatake Kakashi striding easily into the room with a casual, 'Yo'. "Kakashi-san!" he said with a friendly smile. "What brings you here? Is there something I can help you with?"

Kakashi scratched his head absently. "Yes, there is, actually," he replied. "I had a... concern regarding one of your former students."

The brown haired chunin frowned and rose from his seat. "It's Naruto, isn't it?" he asked. "What did he do? Is he all right? He's not hurt is he?"

Kakashi waved a hand placatingly. "Calm down, Iruka," 'Geez, what a Mother Hen...' "Yes, it is Naruto..." A panicked expression fell across the other ninja's scarred face, but Kakashi was quicky to reassure him. "But there's no worry, *she* is just fine."

There was a quick stretch of silence before Iruka stepped away from his desk, striding towards the door and shutting it quickly. He remained silent a few moments more before turning to the silver haired ninja with a serious expression on his face. "How long ago did you find out?"

"A few hours ago, actually," Kakashi answered. He let out a light chuckle. "It came as quite the surprise."

Iruka frowned. "She waited this long...?" he murmured.

The Jounin closed his eye, tucking his hands into his pockets. "I don't think she planned to tell as at all," he said. "As a matter of fact, we found out by accident."

"Accident?" Iruka's frown held a touch of suspicion now. "Accident how?"

Definitely a mother hen... it was no wonder the blonde was so attached to the teacher. Who else was willing to devote so much attention to her? Kakashi found it was rather sad. However, he had no desire to envoke any over protective fraternal/paternal/maternal/whatever instincts - Chunin though he may be, Umino could be quite fierce when he wanted to be - he decided he may as well get straight to the point. "Iruka," he said, utilizing the no-nonsense tone ninja use when relaying information. Iruka dropped his frown and waited for him to continue. "When I spoke to Naruto, she claimed she'd never once lied about her gender. I thought it was strange that anyone could go so long hiding that information, but I see now that she had help. I went to check out her records, but it seems they don't exist."

Iruka shook his head. "They exist." he answered. "Hokage-sama told me that he had her records removed from public access not long after she was born." The Jounin frowned at this bit of information, but he imagined he knew why it had been done. "However, if you were to look at her birth certificate, it clearly states that she's a girl."

"Yet she pretended to be a boy..."

The chunin frowned sadly. "She was scared... can you imagine what might have happened if people had known?" He could, but he really didn't want to. Kakashi could hear the kinds of taunts villagers might come up with echoing through his head. None of them he wished to repeat. "She didn't know why they treated her they way they did, but Naruto knew it was because of something they felt she was to blame for..." He remembered the look in her eyes that night, when Mizuki revealed the truth of what she was. How had it not broken her...? He closed his hand into a fist.

Kakashi studied the chunin before him before closing his eye with a sigh. "So, she let everyone believe what they wanted." He let out a soft snort. "She even had me fooled."

A faint smile made its way across Iruka's face. "Everyone's always underestimated her," he said. "Why do you think she's known as the most Unpredictable Ninja?"

He had a point there... but that once again brought up the question Kakashi most wanted answered. "What else is she good at?"

The Chunin blinked at him, surprised at the question. The Jounin fought the urge to cringe. After all, the blonde had been under his command for several months already. By now, he should have had a concrete idea of where the genin's strength's and weaknesses lay. He'd thought he'd been certain during their first bell test. Naruto had charged him with reckless abandon at the beginning, but had showed creative thinking with the use of Kage Bunshin. However, she'd relied too heavily on the jutsu, allowing Kakashi to turn it against her. Or had she? In the rare moments Kakashi had taken to study her progress - he confessed he spent more time reading Icha Icha than monitoring his students - Naruto had shown an ability to find creative solutions to problems presented to her. Despite her size, she was strong - her hits possessed force behind them. And though she fumbled sometimes, her movements were quick. She thought on her feet, and did not hesitate to make quick decisions. Those traits alone made Naruto a good ninja just like Iwano-sama claimed. And yet, for the most part she behaved as if she hadn't a brain in her head! She was loud, brash, oftentimes completely clueless to what was going on around her.

'Or is that an act, too...?' he wondered to himself.

~ "...there's more to being a ninja than just knowing how to observe others," ~ Iwano-sama had said. ~ "What you must also know... is how to act when you are being observed." ~

The blonde genin's words by the river sprung to his mind. ~ "You're the one who told me to 'see through deception', Kakashi-sensei!" ~ His eye widened. Was it actually possible...?

"What is it?" Iruka wondered, noting his expression.

"We ninja are trained to look 'underneath the underneath'," he murmured. Iruka studied him quietly. "And I've just come to realize that I've got a genin that I know next to nothing about."

The Academy teacher frowned once again. "You were given all of Naruto's Academy records when she was assigned to your team," he said, his tone guarded. "Shouldn't that tell you all you need to know?"

Kakashi looked up at him, chuckling once again. "Even if I had bothered to read it the first time around, you know as well as I do that anything written in Uzumaki Naruto's record is heavily biased, or in some cases entirely false."

Apparent that had been the answer the Chunin had wanted to hear, for his whole body seemed to relax as his expression lightened considerably. He raised his arm, scratching the back of his head absently. "Well then, what would you like to know?"

oooo

An hour later Kakashi found himself in the one of the unused classrooms at the back of the Academy, pouring over a multitude of papers and documents Iruka had produced for his perusal. He was impressed at the fact that all of them were quite thorough. He glanced up at the pony-tailed instructor. "Did you write all these?"

Iruka shook his head. "I enlisted the help of some other instructors - ones I knew would evaluate Naruto objectively. Granted, this file isn't included in her records, hence the status of Dead Last."

A title that she apparently did not deserve, according to these documents. Naruto was a great deal more talented than she was leading everyone to believe, but there was really no way to tell just how good she was - not by reading info from a file, at least. Kakashi frowned. "Still, this really doesn't tell me anything new... except maybe that a lot of teachers in the Academy need to be fired."

The expression on Iruka's face told that he agreed with his words, despite the added work and stress it would lay upon him and his fellow comrades. "Maybe," he said aloud. "But you should at least realize that Naruto doesn't deserve the title of 'Dead Last'!"

He'd already come to that conclusion himself, but he was not quite ready to admit to it out loud. Naruto may not have been the worst according to these records, but where did that put her in level of skill? "How's that?" he said instead.

Iruka sighed. "You might not know this, but Naruto was admitted into the Academy three years earlier than any of her classmates because she showed a proficiency for taijutsu."

Perhaps, but her style indicated most of what she knew was self-taught. She could do a lot a damage to an enemy with a style as unpredictable as hers, but it also put her at a disadvantage if she came across anyone with a stronger style. "But didn't she also fail the Genin Graduation Exam three times?" he asked.

The Chunin frowned. "That was deliberate."

That was not the answer he had expected. Kakashi's visible eye blinked in surprise. "What?"

Iruka merely sighed, remembering...

oo Flashback oo

The young Academy teacher ventured into the classroom, pausing at the sight of the small blonde struggling to right lines across the chalkboard at the back of the class. He let out a sigh, drawing big blue eyes to his face. "You haven't finished yet, Naruto?" he asked. "All your classmates have left for the day."

The blonde set her face into a petulant frown. "Big deal. I got all the time in the world, Sensei!" She hmphed and went back to her task, tiny hands stretching across the dark surface, writing the words "Chalk is a writing tool, not a projektile." Granted, projectile was spelled incorrectly, but Iruka hadn't the heart to point it out just now. The poor kid looked downtrodden enough as it was.

Of course, he wouldn't be a proper teacher if he didn't emphasize the benefits of pursuing knowledge. "You know," he said instead. "If you've got so much free time, you should be studying 'Kawarimi' and 'Henge' techniques. They're going to be on next week's test."

"Aw, I know those already," the blonde huffed, dusting the chalk from her fingers. "When're we gonna get to the fun jutsu, like Suiryuudan?"

Iruka blinked in surprise. "Where on earth did you hear about something like that?"

The blonde blinked, looking as if she'd said too much. She glanced down at her feet guiltily. "I read about it..." she murmured.

"You... read...?"

"I like to read!" she responded indignantly at his disbelieving tone. His surprise only increased. "About jutsu mostly... but I like reading 'bout other stuff, too..."

The chunin was still speechless.

She glanced up him, hurt shining in her blue depths. "Ya don't believe me, Sensei?" Before he could recover, a sneaky grin flashed across her face as she brought her hands together in a not commonly used seal. "Henge! OIROKE NO JUTSU!" There was a poof a smoke and the small child vanished, replaced by a buxom blonde wearing nothing but strategically placed wisps of smoke.

The blood drained out of Iruka's face almost instantaneously.

The naked woman grinned cheekily before 'poofing' back into the young blonde. "See, Sensei?" she crowed. "I can do a Henge just fi-"

Iruka cuffed her over the back of the head with one hand, holding a handkerchief to his bleeding nose with the other. "I warned you about that prank juts- eh?" He glanced down a the blond only to find a practice log in her place. "What?"

"Gotcha!" Naruto was now seated on top of his desk, looking very much like the cat that got the canary. "How d'ya like that, Sensei?"

The chunin stared at her in confusion. She'd done so terribly during practice... "You... how...?"

Blue eyes stared at him knowingly. "I told you, Sensei," she said. "I know the jutsu."

He shook his to force away the stupor. "I don't understand! You've taken the Genin Exam twice now - you could have passed easily!"

The blonde shook her head. "Not yet, Sensei," she said quietly. "I gotta get stronger." Iruka looked confused once more. "I need to learn lots more if I'm ever gonna make it as a ninja. If I don't, I'll never pass the Exam."

Iruka was stunned at the wisdom of her words. 'She's right...' he thought to himself. 'The stronger she proves herself to be, the harder the committee will try to fail her.'

Seeing the realization in his eyes, Naruto gave him her patented fox grin. "You get it, Sensei?" If she was grinning, why was it she looked so upset? "That's my plan. I'm sorry, but you're just gonna be stuck with me for a little while lon-"

Iruka cut off the rest of her sentence, closing his arms around her in a tight hug.

oooo

Kakashi rubbed a hand through his hair as his mind processed all the information he'd been given.

"So..." Iruka murmured.

The Jounin turned to him. "Naruto trusts you," he said. "Since you know him better than anyone, what can you tell me about his-" 'Damn...' "Her overall skill as a ninja."

Iruka paused, looking thoughtful. "Well, one thing I can say for absolute certain," he began. "Is her chakra control absolutely sucks."

Kakashi nearly fell over.

The Chunin continued, "Though that's hardly her fault... No one's been able to show her how to harness her 'unique' chakra properly." He looked down. "I'm only an Academy teacher... I'm not equipped to handle her... circumstances."

He nodded in understanding. "You've done your best, Iruka," he said. "And I'm certain Naruto's grateful for all that you've done for her." At his words, the teacher flushed in embarassment. "But now I suppose I know what my next move is..."

"And that is...?"

Kakashi closed his eye in a crescent grin. "It's time I got to know my REAL subordinate."

'Good luck,' Iruka wanted to say, but held his tongue. The Jounin would soon figure out that that would be much harder than he expected. Instead, he began collecting the papers spread out over the desk, returning them to their unlabeled folder. "If that's the case, there's one thing you should know," Kakashi glanced up at him. Iruka smiled. "Her real name is Naru."

Kakashi nodded before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

oooo

Elsewhere, a blonde genin let out a loud sneeze. Perhaps putting the damp jacket back on hadn't been a good ideal after all. She shrugged.

"Ah well... Now, back to that ramen!"

* * *

End Chapter 3


	5. Chapter 04

Chapter 4

"TEEEEMEEEEEE!"

The Uchiha easily avoided the punch aimed for his head, nimbly manuevering himself out of harm's way. Tensing his legs, he sprung forward with a blow of his own directed towards the blonde in front of him. He could tell that retaliation hadn't been expected, as the orange clad genin jumped and stumbled away, narrowily avoiding his strike.

Blue eyes glared at him, the unspoken 'what the hell?!' being broadcast loud and clear. However, Sasuke wasted no time with explanations. Readjusting his footing in preparation, he rushed forward again to deliver another strike. This time the blonde was prepared; she dropped into a crouch, preparing to slip in beneath his guard. Not about to fall for such a simple move, Sasuke bent backwards, catching her arm as she lunged out him. Pulling hard, he swung her body away, holding back a smirk as she rolled across the grass.

Naruto recovered from the toss quickly, hopping to her feet with a snarl. "You think that's funny?" she snapped. "Where do you get off throwing me like that?"

He snorted. "You're so small it's pretty easy to do," he remarked. "I didn't even have to use any chakra."

That got her. She reached into her weapons pouch, hurling a handful of shuriken in his direction. He blinked, drawing out one of his own kunai to parry them off. Once the sharp projectiles were out of the way, he brought his arm back, throwing his kunai at her. He'd expected her a narrowily duck, squeal, and then curse him out as she usually did following any of his attacks. However, her reaction was completely different. She caught the speeding dagger out of the air, twirling it expertly on her fingers before tossing it into a nearby tree with a neat 'thunk!'

His dark eyes wided momentarily in surprise. 'What the hell...? She's never done that before...' Pushing the thought aside, he rushed towards her again, launching into a series of volley of kicks. Naruto managed to block a majority of them but Sasuke had a few inches on her in terms of height, giving him farther reach to work with than the diminutive blonde. After a few volleys, a well placed kick had the blonde falling back once more. However, this time she remained seated in the grass, weezing slightly. Instead of continuing his own attack - this was only a simple spar, after all - Sasuke kept his distance, struggling to catch his own breath.

On the outside, he maintained his mask of disinterest, but in reality his thoughts were a different story. This time had been different - he'd never had to put so much effort into downing the Dobe before. His mind replayed certain aspects of their fight. Naruto had always been a quick and heavy hitter, but there'd never been any real planning behind her attacks before. She'd just swing a punch and hope it hit. However, this time around she'd been crafty - attempting to use her size to her advantage. And the trick with the kunai? What the hell was that about...?

Feeling a second wind, he glanced down at the blonde with a slight smirk. "Is that the best you can do, Dobe?"

As he predicted, the blonde tensed and fixed him with a sharp scowl. "Shut up, teme."

It was strange... something was different, and it wasn't just her method of fighting. Ever since their escapade with 'Tora-kun', the blonde had been decidedly subdued. Of course, that wasn't to say he didn't still find her horribly obnoxious, but Sasuke found sometimes that the blonde would be in the middle of her usual antics and then would stop, thinking better of it. It was if the whole 'Clumsy Idiot' thing was a routine that she'd come up with to keep everyone in the dark about what she really was.

'That's ridiculous,' he thought. 'Naruto doesn't have the brains to pull off something like that...' How could someone go years making everyone believe they were one thing when they were really another? 'Well... there's that stupid orange jacket...' He glanced at said article of clothing, fighting hard not to cringe in distaste. No self respecting ninja would ever be caught dead in such a garish thing, but for the last two or three years, Naruto had worn that jacket - hot or cold. The bulky material had concealed most of her form - and that coupled with her boisterous voice, strange mannerisms, and horrible social skills, no one would have ever thought to think twice.

Though her secret was out, the number one rookie of their class couldn't help but think that wasn't the only thing she was hiding. There was only one way to find out for sure, however...

He folded his arms across his chest, letting out a bored 'hn.' "I should've known," he muttered. "You were talk all along. Just a little girl pretending to be a ninja."

The blonde let out a growl as she jumped to her feet, her eyes light in anger. "You wanna see what a little girl can do?" she snarled. "FINE!" With that she rushed at him quickly, pulling her fist back to strike.

Totally predictable... Sasuke moved forward in anticpation, prepared to duck under her swing once she came closer. However, as she sped towards him, she touched down on the ground with one foot, pushing her body to the side. He blinked, stunned at her sudden deviation. Taking advantage of his surpise, she twisted her body so that she was behind him. Before he could even figure out what had happened, Sasuke was face down in the dirt.

'What...?!'

"Ha! How d'ya like that, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto crowed, a victorious smirk on her face.

Sasuke was too stunned to reply.

From her spot on the sidelines, Sakura suffered from similar feelings of disbelief. She'd watched the whole fight from start to finish - keen green eyes taking in all of Naruto's unexpected moves. Yet, for all of her intellect, the kunoichi was still unable to wrap her mind around any of it.

'Naruto... beat Sasuke-kun...' Granted, she'd won only because she'd caught the Uchiha off guard - at least that's what part of her brain kept telling her - but the idea itself was still too much to comprehend. Naruto, the Dead Last, had beaten their class' Number One Rookie.

The fangirl in her railed at the injustice of it, but another part of Sakura - perhaps Inner Sakura - was deeply impressed. It was quite the shock to discover that Naruto kept such a vital piece of information about herself a secret - granted, Sakura was still waiting for that knowledge to really sink in - but she just couldn't stand the thought of a goofball like that being representative of the minority that was kunoichi. Fortunately, from what she'd witnessed today, it appeared that the blonde was capable of utilizing that squishy mass between her ears, rather than jumping and swing her arms around like a monkey.

Naruto had fought well.

Naruto had fought smart.

As a result, Naruto had won.

"I don't understand..." she muttered to herself. "How'd she do it...? How'd she get good...?" She remembered Naruto's scores, his- er, her poor performances back during their days in the Academy. She'd been fast, and strong it was true, but she hadn't stood a chance against her other classmates. Sakura frowned thoughtfully. She'd always thought it odd that the blonde couldn't create a simple Bunshin (Clone) to save her life, but could summon up a platoon of Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) without blinking an eye. How was that? Was it possible for someone like her improve so quickly? Or had she truly been that skilled all along. If that were true, why the secrecy? "I just don't understand..."

Kakashi, who had witnessed the majority of the spar from the cover of the trees, chose that time to jump down and reveal himself. After all, they did have business to attend to. "Well," he replied, coming up behind a still awe-struck Sakura. "That was certainly interesting, wasn't it?"

Still troubled by her own thoughts, the kunoichi barely noticed his presence. "You're late, Sensei..." she muttered absently, watching as her two teammates engaged each other once again. No doubt Sasuke was trying to figure out whether that last fight had been a one time thing. From how this one was going, that didn't seem to be the case. "Is this... really Naruto?" Kakashi glanced at her. "I feel like I don't even know hi-her!"

'You're not the only one...' "Well," he drawled. "There's an easy way to fix that." He turned his eye to the two combatting genin. "Sasuke, Naruto! Break it up!"

The two glanced up and stopped, making their way over to them.

A fox grin was already affixed to Naruto's face as she reached them. "You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" she exclaimed.

Kakashi fixed her with an eye grin. "We've already established that, Naruto," he said patiently. "In fact, Sakura and I here were just commenting on you and Sasuke's spar."

The Uchiha tensed and the blonde's grin only widened further.

"You totally saw me kick Sasuke's ass, ne?"

Owner of said ass let out a snarl.

Quick to come to her beloved's defense, Sakura rounded in on the blonde. "No way, Naruto!" she exclaimed. "Sasuke-kun was holding back!" *THERE'S NO WAY HE'D LOSE TO A MIDGET CROSS-DRESSER! SHAAAAA!* Inner Sakura chorused.

Kakashi's eye was thoughtful. "This is true..." His mind replayed the fight scene by scene. "But so was Naruto."

Both Sasuke and Sakura started in surprise. "What?!"

He expected Naruto to add her own two cents, colorfully retelling the fight, but she remained silent. Well, there was no sense in beating around the bush...

"It seems that there's quite a bit we don't know about you, Naruto... especially given recent developments..." the Jounin said. Nothing like near-death experiences to reveal certain truths, right? "Wouldn't you agree that it's time you gave a proper introduction?"

Her posture and expression told that she didn't, but realizing all eyes were on her she let out a deep sigh, relaxing slightly. "Fine..." She paused, folding her arms across her chest with a grin. "The name's Uzumaki Naru... I don't like people who are cocky or rude." She gave her male teammate a pointed glare, which he easily returned. "I like training, reading," Her teammates' expressions shouwed their disbelief. "And learning new jutsu." She paused, looking thoughtful. "I also like plants and cooking, but I mostly eat ramen 'cuz it's quick and really, really good. I was telling the truth when I said I didn't like the 3 minutes it takes for instant ramen to finish - 3 minutes is waaay too long! - but I love eating at Ichiraku's..."

'Of course...' Sasuke and Sakura thought.

Naruto's grin widened and her eyes glinted sharply. "And I *am* gonna be the greatest Hokage ever - you better believe it!"

Kakashi chuckled quietly. It was comforting to know that much of her likes and dislikes stayed the same. Perhaps she wasn't that much different after all.

However, Sakura wasn't as assured. "I still don't understand," she frowned, studying Naruto's profile. "Why did you pretend that you were a boy?"

Naruto's grin fell away, replaced by a guarded frown. "I didn't pretend," she muttered, looking away. "I just let people believe that they wanted."

"Wha..." That was preposterous... "It didn't ever occur to you that you could get in trouble for that?" Sakura's frown turned disapproving. "It's bad enough that you pull pranks all the time - but this..."

That frown... it was same look that she got from everyone else... Naruto's eyes darkened. "It wasn't a prank!" she snapped. "You don't get it at all!"

Startled, the pink haired kunoichi took a step back. When had Naruto ever yelled at her before? A quick glance at Sasuke revealed him to look just as surprised as she.

'Ah... this is getting out of hand...' "Now, now," Kakashi replied, stepping forward once more. "We're getting off track... I just wanted to get clear the air," 'And get a better idea of what I'm dealing with...' "before we took on our next assignment."

The blonde's mood changed almost instantaenously. "We've got a new mission!" She began bouncing up and down gleefully at the sight of the mission scroll in the Jounin's hand.

"It's a step up from the norm... It's a C rank." Kakashi paused to study their expressions, each ranging from excited, to slightly interested, to vaguely worried. "It's another escort mission - our client's name is Tazuna and we're to escort him back to his home in Nami no Kuni."

Sakura's eyes widened. 'Wave Country... ?'

Sasuke smirked. "I take it he's worried about bandits, too, right?"

Kakashi nodded. "You three think you're ready for this?" he asked. "I can always turn it down-"

"Hell no, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, her earlier dark mood a thing of the past. "We're Team 7 - we were born ready!"

Her male teammate studied her a brief moment before nodding his head slightly. "What the Dobe said."

After a few moments, Sakura nodded as well, her eyes filling with determination. "That's right, we're ready!"

Satisfied, Kakashi nodded. 'Let's hope so...'

oooo

Flanked by his armed entourage, the old tycoon strode into the dark room, tossing a manila folder down in front of occupants seated at the table in the corner. He watched as a slim hand reached out, opening the folder to peer at the contents inside. The owner of the hand drew out a photograph, holding it out for the others to see.

"That the guy?" asked one.

"He's old." said another.

"He'll have guards..." said the holder of the photograph. "But I doubt he can afford more than a Chunin or two."

"It'll be a cinch."

The tycoon smirked, turning away. "Just make sure it gets done." He exited the room, his thugs trailing behind.

"Get to it," another figure said. He sat in between the others, a large man with his face partially concealed by bandages. "Otherwise we don't get paid."

Two of the figures nodded, and bowed, "Right!" They quickly vanished from sight, leaving the large man and the figure holding the photograph.

He smirked down at the photo, memorizing the face of the gruff looking old man staring back at him. "Sorry, old man," he said, drawing a kunai from a pouch at his side. He took the photograph and placed it down on the table, holding his kunai over it. "But you're as good as-"

oooo

"Dead! Aarrrghhh! Just wait'll I get my hands on you!"

Kakashi grabbed the collar of Naruto's jacket, keeping her from carrying out her thoughts of violence against the old drunk currently in their company. If only she'd connected with him like she had with Iwano-sama. Though to be fair, he certainly wasn't making it easy. The blonde still struggled against his hold. "Easy, Naruto..." he cautioned. "You can't expect to succeed in this mission if you maul the client!" Thankfully, she ceased her struggle, but her face still told of her displeasure for their situation.

Sakura gave the blonde an exasperated sigh. "Honestly, Naruto... try to show a little restraint...!" she scolded. However, deep down she shared her anger. *RESTRAINT, MY ASS!* Inner Sakura raged. *THAT OLD LUSH LIED TO US! POUND HIM INTO THE GROUND - SHAAA!*

Their current mission was not going at all like they had expected. That was of course, no thanks to their client, Tazuna, a bridge builder who had hired them for protection. However, he had neglected to mention that it was not bandits he sought protection from, but OTHER NINJA. They learned that said ninja had been hired by the infamous Gatou of Gatou Corp who wished to halt the production of a bridge connecting their village to the mainland. Tazuna hadn't meant any harm - he and his compatriots were too impoverished to afford an A or B rank, which the mission *should* have been assigned - but that did not make being attacked by Mizugakure nukenin any easier to take in stride.

Kakashi did not appreciate the deception, and had told Tazuna so. The old man was genuinely repentant - even if he did lay a bit of a guilt trip on them. Widowed wife and grandchild... sheesh... Kakashi supposed, he'd had no other choice though. Nor did they really - the mission had to continue or else he was as good as dead.

...Sigh...

Once he was certain she would do the old man no harm, Kakashi released his hold on Naruto's jacket. The girl did not retaliate, instead she ran her hands through her messy locks in frustration. "Arrgghhh!" Her teammates fixed her with a 'what's *your* problem?' look. "I get that we're going on with the mission so that the old dude doesn't bite the big one, but that doesn't mean I hafta like that he lied to us!"

The old man took a drag from his hip flask, fixing the blonde with a scowl. "Look, I already told ya my reasons," he grunted. "B'sides... you're one to talk ya little punk." Naruto blinked at him. "There's no way you're old enough to be a ninja - to think I'm trustin' my life to a midget like you!"

Naruto's eyes spoke of murder as Sakura struggled to keep her back.

The Jounin sighed once again. "I trust we're close to your village, Tazuna-san?" he asked. The old man drew his eyes from the blonde - did he enjoy antagonizing her? - nodding seriously. "We'll need to stay on our guard in case those ninja who came after us before have reinforcements."

At that, Sasuke frowned darkly, his mind recounting the brief skirmish they had undertaken with the nukenin. Naruto had sensed their presence first - though whether she'd done it intentionally was uncertain. At the sight of two chunin-level closing in on her so suddenly, the blonde had frozen. Sasuke wasn't sure it had been out of fear however; it was almost as if she'd been expecting one thing, but then realizing the situation was different quickly reacted. Whatever her reasons, she'd allowed the Uchiha an opportunity to subdue one of the ninja, while she engaged the other. The nukenin's clawed gauntlet had knicked her hand, cutting loose the wrappings she usually bound her hands with. Of course, she had grumbled about this as she rewrapped them after the fact, never really minding the fact she could have been incapacitated by the poison dripping from the blades had she been any closer. It was surreal, but it only confirmed what Sasuke had been wondering for days...

Naruto was more skilled than she let on.

The thought made him angry. How dare she hide her abilities? He was the only one supposed to have any talent. She was supposed to be the Dead last, the Dobe! 'Pretending to be a boy is one thing...' he thought, glaring daggers into her back. She was too busy yelling at Tazuna to notice. 'How much skill is she hiding?' He briefly remembered their last sparring session, and the fact that she'd managed to knock him down. 'She can't possibly be better than me...' His eyes darkened. 'No... that's impossible!'

Sakura watched Sasuke worriedly, taking in the emotions flashing across his usually blank face. 'This is all so strange...' she murmured, following his gaze to the blonde. 'We've been walking for hours now and Sasuke has yet to stop staring at Naruto...' Her frown deepened. 'And he hasn't said a word since the fight... ' He'd made a comment about Naruto freezing up, and the blonde had quite calmly told him that she would never back down from a fight. Whether it had been a challenge or a not so subtle 'kiss my ass', the Uchiha hadn't spoken a word since. 'I wonder if Sasuke-kun is interested in her now that he knows that she's a girl...' Her eyes widened in horror at the thought. *NARUTO?! NO WAY WE'RE GONNA STAND FOR THAT!* said Inner Sakura, rolling up her proverbial sleeves. *WE BEAT THAT INO-PIG AND WE'LL BEAT NARUTO-BAKA, TOO! BELIEVE THAT, SHAAA!*

'Naruto...' Both she and Sasuke thought, 'I will defeat you!'

The blonde tensed, practically feeling the twin glares digging into her back. She glanced back at the murderous looks being sent her way before forcing her eyes quickly back to the front. 'Eh... what the heck did I do wrong now...?'

Tazuna and Kakashi surveyed the silent exchange, slightly nonplussed. The old man spoke first, taking another hit from his flask. "Weird bunch a brats you got here, Hatake..."

Kakashi closed his eye in a resigned grin.

oooo

The small group made their way through forest, pausing at the sound of rushing water. Kakashi slowed to a stop, turning the others' attention to him. He gave Tazuna a questioning glance to which the old man responded with a nod.

"All right, kiddies," he said with a grunt. "We're almost there now..."

Naruto paused, inclining her head. She could both hear and smell the river from where she stood. "Are we goin' the rest of the way by boat or somethin'?" she asked.

"Try not to fall in this time..." Sasuke smirked at her angry glare. "Idiot."

They walked through the trees, coming to a makeshift dock that resided at the water's edge. Tazuna scanned the area before turning back to the ninja in his company. "A boat should be here to pick us up any time now..."

Kakashi nodded, but before anyone could move he was drawing a kunai out of his side pouch. His genin looked at him in confusion. "That's going to have to wait," he said. His visible eye narrowed slightly. "It seems as if we have company..."

oooo

Sakura stared at Kakashi, her green eyes wide in concern. That concern lay with the fact that their sensei was currently facing down a dangerous zanbato-wielding nukenin by the name of Momochi Zabuza. According to him he was the one hired out by Gato to kill Tazuna-san. A Jounin-level ninja who had already come close to completing his goal with the use of a mere mizu-bunshin(Water clone)! They were so out of their league! She turned to her Sasuke-kun, hoping he could provide her some reassurance. However, she was brought up short by the caged look in his eyes. "Sa-sasuke-kun...?"

The two Jounin exchanged the usual introductory banter - as it turns out they each were infamous in each other's respective villages. However, the time for talk was over quickly, and without warning the two rushed each others, blade colliding with kunai with a loud two Jounin exchanged the usual introductory banter - as it turns out they each were infamous in each other's respective villages. However, the time for talk was over quickly, and without warning the two rushed each others, blade colliding with kunai with a loud clang.

Momochi Zabuza was a monster - huge, massive muscles and cold, dark eyes that bored right into you. A missing nin from Kirigakure, he was known as a demon; he'd been the only graduate of his Academy class due to the fact he'd slaughtered all the others. He'd sprung on them without warning, his sights set on wiping Tazuna - and quite possibly them as well - from the face of the earth. It was obvious that they had no chance against him.

But Kakashi, however... Kakashi had a Sharingan.

One singular Sharingan, concealed beneath his hitai-ate. Sasuke didn't know how he'd gotten it, but given the scar residing beneath it, he hadn't been born with it... Still, all that mattered was that he had one, while he, Sasuke, did not. He'd heard the moniker Copy Nin no Kakashi before, but it had never occured to Sasuke to think that had been a result of a kekkei genkai. His family's kekkei genkai.

There was only one other he knew of that possessed mastery of the doujutsu, and the very thought of him brought a chill to his body and mind.

Zabuza made a move towards the three genin guarding their client, but Kakashi was quick to intercept him. Sasuke caught a quick flash of the spinning tomoe, and the killing intent directed at the sword-wielding nin. Though it wasn't directed at him, he could feel the effects all the same.

~ "Foolish little brother..." ~

His body lurched slightly, and he reached for a kunai from his pouch. He had to find some way - *any* way to keep those memories from resurfacing. He didn't want to be...

~ "...Weak..." ~

Kakashi had use of his family's prized doujutsu while he himself had no clue as to how to activate it within himself. Meanwhile, his teammate, a blonde who he had originally believed to be a buffoon, was improving quickly - though it was quite possible she had always been this good - by leaps and bounds. Soon he would not be able to keep up. He would be left behind.

~ "You are weak... Your hatred is not strong enough..." ~

'I am not strong enough...' His body was shaking terribly. He couldn't control himself. If he didn't do something - anything to regain control...

"Sasuke!"

A hand gently rested itself on his left shoulder, while another wrenched the kunai from his hand. The actions yanked his mind back to the present, his dark eyes falling on those of his two female companions.

Sakura's eyes showed relief. "Please..." she said softly. "Stay with us, Sasuke-kun...?"

He stared at her, unsure of how to explain himself.

"Have you forgotten?" Naruto's words were gruff, but he could hear the underlining concern beneath it. "We're s'posed to be guardin' Tazuna-jiji! We can't do that with you spacin' out on us!"

That's right... he was the Number One Rookie... they couldn't succeed without him. Repeating this over and over in his mind, he schooled his face back into its usual from. "Shut up," he grunted. "I'm fine.

Naruto seemed to be satisfied with that and turned her blue eyes back to the fight raging in the distance. However, Sakura was still concerned. "We can't stay here," she said. "There's no telling whether Zabuza will try to come at us again."

Her rationale was logical. Kakashi had ordered them to keep the bridge builder safe, not battle some rogue ninja. "We need to get to Tazuna's boat." he said.

The old builder stared at them in alarm. How could three children be discussing things so rationally when their sensei was currently engaged in a battle to the death? "What about your Sensei?" he asked.

"The mission comes first," Sasuke replied. "Kakashi should be able to handle that guy without our interference."

Naruto glanced at him a moment before nodding in agreement. She grasped Tazuna's hand, leading him away. "Let's go, Jiji!"

From the distance, Zabuza sneered and placed his hands in a familiar handsign. "You're not getting away!"

Kakashi's Sharingan whirled in recognition. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura! Get out of there, now!"

The three genin tensed their bodies for any sign of attack, but they were still unprepared for the mizu bunshin that appeared in their midst, zanbatou swinging wildly out towards them.

The blade slid neatly through blonde and the old man without any resistance. Sakura screamed and Sasuke made a grab for her, pulling her out of the way.

"Naruto! Tazuna-san!"

The pair did not fall to the ground as they expected. Instead, they vanished with a loud, familiar 'pop'.

Not wasting any time with questions, Sasuke's hands flew through the signs, as he yelled out, "Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

The water clone vanished from existance much like the mist from which the Zabuza hailed. The missing nin's eyes widened. "What?! Impossible!"

The Leaf Jounin knew an opening when he saw it. Kunai flew from his hands quicker than lightning, imbedding themselves in the missing nin's arms and back. The swordsman let out a strangle cry, turning to back to him with hatred in his eyes. "Damn you!"

Kakashi gave him a measuring look. "You underestimated the power of my students," he remarked. 'As did I...' He drew another kunai from his pouch. "That mistake's gonna prove to be fatal..."

Zabuza opened his mouth to retort, but his words turned into a strangled gurgle as he fell to the ground. A single senbon protruded from his neck.

Sasuke and Sakura stared in stunned silence. Where had that come from?

His eyes, both normal and Sharingan honed in on the lone figure resting on a low tree branch in the distance. "And you are...?"

"I mean you no harm," The figure bowed, face hidden behind a porcelain mask. "Kirigakure no ANBU... I'm here to claim nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza."

Sasuke studied the other ninja. 'A tracker...?'

Kakashi's thoughts ran along a similar vein. 'He's young... around these guys' age...'

The tracker ninja vanished from the tree tops in a whirlwind, reappearing beside Zabuza's body. "I apologize for any inconvenience this man has called you. He will bother you no longer..."

"So he's dead...?" Sakura murmured. Part of her was relieved. 'But... where si Naruto...?'

The dark haired ninja beside her tensed as the tracker hefted Zabuza's body from the ground. "What are you doing...?" he asked.

"I must dispose of his body," the ninja answered. "It contains secrets that our village does not wished disclosed to outsiders." The ninja bowed once more. "Thank you for your assistance in this matter, but I must depart. Farewell..." Soon, both he and Zabuza were gone in a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi sighed.

Sakura glanced back at him. "Are you all right, Sensei?" she asked worriedly.

"Just fine," he said. He glanced around the area. "Where are Naruto and Tazuna?"

A rustling from a nearby tree put everyone on their guard, but their worries were put to rest when Naruto jumped down with Tazuna on her back. "Here we are, Kakashi-sensei!"

The Jounin smirked, impressed. "Good job, Naru."

Naruto blinked at him in surprise, blushing in embarrasment.

Out of peril, the group continued the rest of the way to the dock where another man awaited them in a small motorboat. Seeing them in the distance, relief was evident on his face as he waved a greeting to them.

"You made it," Tazuna said.

"So did you," the man replied, making room for the bridge builder to step aboard.

"I wouldn't have," he said, gratitude showing in his eyes as he looked back at the Leaf ninja. "Were it not for these people."

Kakashi shook his head, pushing his hitai-ate back down into place. "We were just doing our jo-" He paused and groan, lurching forward slightly.

The three genin turned to him, bewildered, only to watch as he pitched forward. "Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura cried out as she and Naruto halted his descent to the ground.

"Is he injured?" Tazuna called out.

Sasuke studied his prone form. "He's unconscious," he said. "He used up too much of his chakra..." 'From use of the Sharingan, I'd bet...'

"There's no use just standing around her," Naruto said, draping his arm over her smaller shoulders. Sakura absently mirrored her action with his other arm. "Let's get 'im into the boat and get the hell outta here..."

"We'll take 'im back to our house," Tazuna replied. "You all look like you could use a good rest."

No one argued as they all filed into the boat and quickly pushed away from the dock.

Sakura stared at the unconscious form of their teacher, her eyes shining in worry. "I hope he'll be all right..."

Naruto gave him a reassuring grin. "No worries, Sakura-chan! This is Kakashi-sensei we're talkin' about! I'm sure he'll be just fine..."

Sasuke stared out at the vanishing shore, his eyes dark in consternation. 'He better be...' He thought, frowning. 'Because I get the feeling we haven't heard the last of this...'

* * *

End Chapter 4


	6. Chapter 05

Chapter 5

'...Well... It looks like I overdid it once again... Obito...'

Kakashi opened his eye, slowly scanning his surroundings. He was lying on a thick futon mattress in a moderately furnished room. Tazuna's home residence he surmised. So, his students had had the sense to leave the site of their battle. It was good to know his lesson of not abandoning teammates had gotten through to them.

'I seem to be doin' all right with them so far, right... Sensei...?'

There was some movement at his left, and despite the effort it took, the exhausted Jounin turned his head to discern the source. A dark haired woman came into his field of vision, opening the curtains to let sunlight filter into the room. Was this the widowed daughter the bridge builder had spoken of before?

She glanced at him, her eyes widening at the sight of him gazing back at her. Her expression quickly morphed from surprise to relief. "Hatake-san, you're awake! Thank goodness!" Huh, must be the daughter then... "Your students were terribly worried about you - I'll let them know that you're up." She vanished out of his sight. Several moments passed before the silence of the room was broken by the sound of footsteps - the first two pair coming towards him much more quickly than the third.

"Kakashi-sensei!" His three genin appeared before him, varying degrees of relief written on their faces. Knowing they couldn't see it, he smiled slightly.

"We were really worried about you, Sensei!" Naruto confessed as she plopped down beside his futon, blue eyes studying his face for any signs of distress.

To be quite honest he still felt terrible - not that she would be able to tell just by looking at his eye - chakra exhaustion was no picnic.

"I'm fine," he answered. "I just used up too much chakra in that fight." Sensing the 'will you be all right' coming, he decided to beat them to the punch. "I'll be fine in a few days with some rest."

"A couple of days?" Naruto blinked.

"Of course," Sakura turned to her. "How long did you expect it to take?"

The blonde scratched her head. "I dunno... a good night's rest is usually all I need." Her teammates stared at her in disbelief. Well... Sakura stared whilst Sasuke glowered. "What?"

"N-nothing..." Sakura shut her mouth with an audible snap. *A GOOD NIGHT'S REST? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!* Inner Sakura exclaimed. *NOBODY RECOVERS FROM CHAKRA EXHAUSTION THAT QUICKLY! YOU LIAR! SHAAA!*

Sasuke glanced away. 'Hidden talent and stamina... just what are you...?!' Feeling their teacher's eye fall upon him, he turned back with the usual frown on his face. "What's our next move?"

Kakashi blinked. "Hn?"

Sakura glanced in between the two of them before frowning slightly. "Sasuke-kun thinks that Zabuza guy might still be alive."

Sitting up slowly, Kakashi sighed. "He's probably right." The three genin tensed. "The ninja who took his body was no ANBU..." Considering the years he himself had spent in the organization's ranks he should have known better...

"Oh, right, I get it!" Sakura nodded in understanding. "Tracker ninja usually dispose of the target's body on site, ne? That boy took his body away..." Her green eyes darkened as the rest of the puzzle slid into place in her mind. "Which means... he was an accomplice?"

"Most likely," Sasuke answered. "Which means once he helps Zabuza recover, they'll both be back to try again." He frowned, clenching his hands in his lap. "We couldn't do anything the first time around... We need to get stronger..." 'I need to get stronger... I can't be weak... I WON'T be left behind...!' He glanced up at Kakashi again. "Otherwise we won't stand a chance against him!"

"Or that other ninja if he decides to step in," Sakura added. "We don't even know what he's capable of."

Naruto snorted. "There's no use moping about it!" she exclaimed, rising to her feet. Determination shone in her eyes. "If we're gonna get stronger, we hafta train!" She turned to their sensei. "Right, Kakashi-sensei?"

He paused, studying the three of them. After a moment, he chuckled. "You know, Naruto... you're absolutely right."

At the strange glint in his eye, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all backed away nervously.

oooo

The slightest movement sent pain racing through his nerves, but Zabuza ignored it. If that one eyed freak thought for a minute he was finished... Slim hands tending to his injuries halted his inner tirade, and he glanced up at his subordinate in mild annoyance. "What is it?"

"I spoke to Gatou."

Zabuza snorted. No doubt the old geezer had heard about their little 'setback'. "And?"

There was a slight pause. "He was not pleased about the recent developments."

The bandaged ninja scoffed. "It doesn't matter," he replied. "Let him complain all he wants. Once the job is finished I plan to kill him anyway. He talks too much." The fat, weak man - talking down to him as if he were his property... That was one of the reasons he'd left Kirigakure. A Hidden Village was suppose to be just that hidden; real ninja were not supposed to cow to the weak slobs who waved money in their faces. Ninja were supposed to be fierce, strong, and ruthless! The old ways had been forgotten...

"And the job... would you have me finish it?"

He shook his hand, grimacing at the pain the motion caused. "No, I'll handle it... me an' Kakashi have a score to settle, after all." His mind went back to his fight with the Sharingan wielder. Now that he knew his secret, taking care of him would be easy. Enjoyable, in fact. "I'll be leaving the brats to you... make sure they don't get in our way."

There was a long pause before his subordinate nodded. The dim light of the room glinted off of the stolen ANBU mask on his face. "As you wish, Zabuza-sama."

oooo

Kakashi surveyed the progress of his students with a critical eye. There wasn't a great deal he could teach them given his disability coupled with their time constraints. From what he'd seen from them so far, however, it appeared that they possessed the knowledge and instinct to properly take care of themselves and each other in the type of situation they were facing - what they lacked was the endurance. Bearing that in mind, he'd taken them all out into the forest and introduced them to the chakra building exercise of Tree Walking.

Naturally, Sakura caught onto it the quickest. Though she had the smallest reserves of the three, she also possessed the greatest amount of control over her chakra. That wasn't to say her teammates were doing too badly, however. The two of them had struggled at first but after a few hours they had slowly started to get the hang of it.

Watching the Avenger and the Prankster rushing up their respective trees in a competition of sorts, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a little bit of nostalgia. When he'd first taken on the three genin, he had seen characteristics in each of them that likened them to his own genin team. The Uchiha, the young prodigy focused only on becoming stronger was so much like a younger version of himself that Kakashi had to keep from groaning at the irony of it all. Of course, next was the kunoichi, brilliant in her own right, but too preoccupied with kissing the ground said Prodigy walked on to improve her own skills. If only she put her talents to use! 'Sakura... you're so much like Rin it's scary sometimes...'

And as every time was balanced to include the strongest and weakest, as Sasuke was to Kakashi, as was Naruto to Obito...

Or, at least she had been...

Obito hadn't been that bad of a student in the Academy... the only thing he'd really had going against was the fact that he seemed to be the Anti-Uchiha. Most of his kin had carried themselves with that quiet sort of confidence that bordered on arrogance, saying without words, 'I am Uchiha, ergo I am better than you'. Obito was a black sheep; he was loud, brash, obnoxious, and lacking a Sharingan. His family had looked down on him because of these things, but he hadn't let them hold him down. Holding his head high, he'd been determined to prove himself no matter what it took...

'And you did just that... didn't you, Obito...?'

To most, Naruto was just the bumbler that the Uchiha had been, but it had all been an act. Kakashi didn't need the Sharingan to see that clearly now. Since the beginning of their trip, the blonde had been the recipient of numerous confused/angry stares as a result of her recent revelation. Despite the evidence, they still couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that she'd been playing a role from day one. It didn't help matters that she sometimes slipped back into the role of 'the Dobe', stating the obvious, or fumbling over some simple task. Kakashi knew she only did it to put her teammates' minds at ease, but he knew it wouldn't help matters any. Teammates were supposed to be able to trust on one another and their skills in times of crisis - it wouldn't help anyone if they didn't know what to expect from her.

Kakashi supposed he could test her right now to just see the extent of her abilities. However, he found himself hesitating. He knew as well as she did that the more of herself that she revealed, the more questions there would be. Rules aside, the Jounin was just not prepared to explain to two 12 year olds that their teammate housed one of, if not the strongest of all Bijuu ever known to terrorize the lands.

His eye saddened slightly. 'What would you do, Obito?' His left eye had no answer for him.

"I did it, I did it! I made it to the top before you did, Sasuke-teme!"

"We reached it at the same time, idiot."

Shifting his weight on the crutches Tsunami had been kind enough to lend him, he looked up from his book as the two genin touched down on the ground. They both panted slightly in exertion, but looked pleased at their success. "You guys caught on pretty fast," he commented. "I guess we better move on to the next exercise."

"Next exercise?"

"You didn't think that was all I had in store for you, did you?" He gave Naruto a measuring look. "You've still got a ways to go."

She knew exactly what he meant, but balked just for show anyway. "Whaaa...?! Why's that?"

Oblivious, Sakura turned a slanted look her way. "Because your chakra control still sucks..."

"Sakura-chaaaann..."

"Now, now," Kakashi placated. "You did well... but you still waste a lot of chakra unnecessarily..."

Naruto's expression was one of genuine confusion now. "Huh? But I feel fine?"

"Oh really?" A quick glance over proved her words to be true. She was winded, but her reserves were barely depleted. How much of her chakra was hers, and how much belonged to her 'tenant', he wondered. "Well, in that case, you'll be taking the first shift with Tazuna at the bridge tomorrow morning."

As predicted, she shrieked in outrage. "That's not fair, Sensei!" She pointed a finger at her fellow kunoichi. "Make Sakura-chan go! She mastered the Tree Walking first, right?"

Kakashi leaned forward, meeting the blonde nose to nose. She eeped in surprise. "There's a reason I'm sending you first, Naruto," he said.

She blinked, apprehensive. "Why's that?"

"Because..." His expression turned positively devious. "I'm almost certain you'll be the fastest to recover for what I've got in store for you next!"

Naruto stared at him in disbelief. As his words sunk in, her face turned an interesting shade of blue.

The birds in the trees overhead were startled from their perches by the loud cry that followed.

"WHAAAAT?!"

oooo

Tazuna's eye twitched as he surveyed the scene in front of him. "You kidding me...? THESE are my bodyguards? The same ninja who saved my life just days ago?"

Said ninja, excluding Kakashi, were laid out around the dining room in various states of exhaustion. The Jounin merely grinned; at least he'd had fun.

From her position half draped against the dinner table, Sakura cast him a surly glare. "You go through everything we went through today and see how you like it!"

"Oh, that was nothing..." Kakashi drawled, turning a page in his book. Nothing, at least, compared to some of the things his colleague, Maito Gai, put his students through...

From their opposing sides of the table, Sasuke and Naruto twitched.

"Nothing?" Sakura stared at him in disbelief. "Are you serious? The tree walking was one thing, but to have us try water walking with weights on is another thing, Sensei!"

At least they'd learned that Naruto could swim, he thought to himself. It was just the whole unconscious thing that had caused her trouble. "If you find you've got the energy to complain," he said mildly. "You'll be just fine."

Sakura shut up.

Tsunami tittered behind her hand. "I'm sure a nice warm meal will fix you all right up," she said. "You'll have your strength back in no time,"

"Not like it'll matter any..." All heads turned to the little boy in overalls hidden halfway behind the door. He glared at the ninja from beneath a floppy white hat. "You're wasting your time."

Scowling slightly, Naruto sat up to meet his eyes. "What's that?"

Inari, for that was the boy's name, met her stare with a glare of his own. "You think a little training is gonna make a difference?" he spat. His expression was one of disdain. "Gatou's not gonna be scared by the likes of you guys."

The blonde scoffed. "Like I'm afraid of some fat old businessman."

Tazuna frowned. "He may not be physically strong, but Gatou is a dangerous man," he said. "He's got this whole country in his pocket - everyone here is scared of 'im. They all know that anyone who tries to cross him gets made an example out of by his band of thugs. They don't show any mercy."

The smile vanished from Tsunami's face as her gaze suddenly found the floor.

Kakashi's eye lit up in understanding. 'So they've experienced his cruelty firsthand, have they?' He glanced at Inari. 'The boy's father, perhaps...?'

"That's why we must complete this bridge," Tazuna went on. "If we can just reach the mainland, our village will thrive and we can break free from his hold once and for all!"

Naruto nodded, planting her hands face down on the table as she pushed herself upwards. "Then that's just what we'll do!" She turned to the bridge builder, her eyes shining. "You're gonna get your bridge finished, Tazuna-jiji, believe it!"

Inari left the sanctuary of the doorway, striding up to the blonde angrily. "You don't know what you're talking about! Don't sit there and make promises you can't keep!"

Blue eyes turned on him, and he tensed slightly, but held his ground. "I don't make promises I can't keep," she said assuredly. "If I say we're gonna protect your granddad and finish his bridge then that's what we're gonna do!"

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" the smaller boy pushed at her slightly, but she didn't budge. "Why'd you come here? You don't know what it's like to live the way we do! You don't know what it's like to suffer, so don't come in here spouting that crap about how you're gonna save us-" The blonde's hand pushed his hat further down over of his head, halting the rest of his words.

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed.

She ignored her, staring quietly at the boy that stared back at her in indignant anger. "You talk too much, you know that?" she said quietly. Inari just continued to glare, tears welling up in the corners of his dark eyes. "I'm here cuz it's my mission. I may not know what it is Gatou's done to you and your family, but that doesn't mean for even a second that I don't know what it is to suffer." Something flickered in her eyes for a moment before she pushed it back down. "The difference between you an' me is I'm actually trying to do something about it while you're just sittin' on your ass feeling sorry for yourself." She turned away and headed towards the door, grabbing her shoes as she went. "Think about that before you go shooting off your mouth."

With a slam of the door she was gone, leaving everyone to stare after her.

The small boy stood in silence, willing himself not to cry in front of strangers.

It took a few seconds for Tsunami to realize the last couple minutes had actually occurred. "Oh my..." Like the maternal figure she was, she took a step towards the door.

"It's all right..." Kakashi said. The woman looked at him in surprise. "I'm sure Naruto'll be fine."

"What did Naruto mean though, Sensei?" Sakura asked. "About suffering?"

He paused. "Naruto's an orphan..." he answered after a few moments. "She's never known either of her parents, and there have been few people that have every shown her any real kindness."

The pink haired kunoichi gaped at him in surprise whilst her teammate only sat silently and listened.

Kakashi turned to the young boy, continuing, "So, Inari, I know that you have anger and you think that there isn't anyone who understands what you're going through... but I think Naruto might understand you better than you think. In a way... we all do, and that's why we're determined to help you and your village."

Tsunami came to stand behind her son, placing her hands on his shoulders. She smiled at Kakashi through teary eyes. "Thank you," she said earnestly. The Jounin merely nodded. "I suppose I should get back to dinner... I'm sure you're all starving by now..."

"Hm... I suppose we can't let Naruto go hungry can we...?" The Jounin reached for his crutches. Perhaps it was about time he had a talk with her anyway. "After all, she still has the first shift tomorrow."

Sasuke was already on his feet and heading towards the door. "I'll go get the Dobe..."

Sakura watched him go with a thoughtful frown on her face.

oooo

It wasn't Inari's fault. Sure, he'd run his mouth a bit too much, but her anger had gotten the better of her. She'd been so caught up in setting the little brat straight that she'd let her mask slip just a little - she was certain her teammates had seen it.

'Oh well... they'll just have to get over it...' She sighed. In honesty, part of her was glad that her teammates knew. She was tired of having to play the happy-go-lucky Dobe all the time. It felt good not having to be loud and rowdy - not that it wasn't fun - all the time. Now she could focus more of her energy on improving herself.

Her feet led her to the trees where they had practiced their chakra exercises. As expected, her control over her own chakra reserves had been terrible, but she'd managed to catch on quickly, progressing up the tree just as quickly as her teammates. They'd been surprised by her success – well, actually… Sakura had been surprised, for some reason Sasuke had been furious – so she'd played the goofball routine to put their minds at ease.

It had worked for her teammates. They laughed at her antics and went back to their own practice, labeling her earlier progress a rare fluke. Their sensei, however, had looked at her with disappointment in his visible eye, before once turning back to his perverted book.

Even if she was unaware of the true meaning behind the look – in actuality, Kakashi didn't like her playing the fool anymore than she did – it hurt seeing that look on his face. All her life she'd faced sneers and harsh glares from the people of the village. In their eyes she was nothing but a demon, a monster, a freak… It had been her hope that her genin team would be different; they'd see her skill and realize what an asset she was to their group. Perhaps it was not to be…

She sighed, placing her hand out flat against the tree's trunk. 'Even if they never acknowledge me,' She stared at her hand, remembering her earlier words after their fight with the Mist Chunin. 'I won't back down… I won't run away… I will walk a path of no regrets… 'cuz that's my Nindo…'

Unbeknownst to her, a figure lurked in the shadows, watching her with keen dark eyes. 'It's the little blonde from before…' A senbon was drawn into the figure's grasp as they stepped forward, preparing to strike…

The movement caught Naruto's ears and she turned, squinting. "Who's there?" Blue eyes peered into the darkness of the trees, taking in the sight of a young girl in a light pink yukata. Her heart shaped face was framed by long, black hair that hung low past her shoulders. Her eyes were a dark brown, holding a look that the blonde found to be very familiar.

The girl gave her a small smile. "It's going to be dark soon…" She tilted her head in curiosity. "Should you be out here alone?"

Naruto shook her head and grinned. "I'm all right, I'm a ninja!" she assured, fingering her hitai-ate. The other girl studied the head guard before letting her eyes fall back on her face. "What about you though, Neesan?"

"I'm heading home myself," the girl answered. Naruto nodded and grinned. The girl stared at her. "You shouldn't do that, you know."

Blue eyes blinked. "Do what?"

"Smile like that…" Naruto's grin slipped from her face almost instantly. "It's very painful to look at when one knows that it's fake."

The Leaf Genin puzzled over her words. She could see through her mask? "How can you tell?"

The girl smiled softly. "Your smile may be very open and carefree, but your eyes are so very sad," She closed the distance between them slowly, keeping her eyes on Naruto's face. "There is something that troubles you, isn't there?" Naruto only blinked at her. "I know what it's like to hide behind a mask, you see."

As recognition dawned on the blonde's face, inside the brunette frowned slightly. 'What possessed me to say that…?' she wondered.

"Is it always like this…?" She turned her attention back to Naruto. The blonde laughed ruefully. "I guess it doesn't matter really… I need to focus on my mission, after all." Nodded decidedly, she clenched her fists in determination. "I'll show everyone, and then I'll finally be able to show people that I have what it takes?"

The brunette stared at her curiously. "For what…?"

"To become the Greatest Hokage, of course!" Naruto grinned. "That's my dream!"

"I see…" Dark brown eyes stared at the ground. "And this dream of yours… why do you pursue it? For recognition? Glory?"

"No…" She blinked and then shook her head deliberately. She thought of Sandaime-jiji, Iruka-sensei, and Iwano-obaasan. The words she had repeated to them echoed in her mind. "I want to protect the people precious to me."

"The people… precious to you…?"

She thought of all the people in her life that had acknowledged her. She turned to the girl, her blue eyes bright and curious. "Do you have anyone like that?"

The girl paused in surprise and then smiled. "Yes… yes, I do." She glanced back into the forest from whence she came. "I need to get back to them,"

She had to get back as well. Naruto's face fell slightly; she really wasn't looking forward to the questions that were sure to come. If only she could just stay here… She shook her head and smiled at the girl. "Hey, will I see you again?" The girl blinked again, causing her to flush slightly. "Well, you see… you were right about what you said about me being sad before…" She paused and ran a hand through her hair. "But for some reason, talking with you made me feel a little better."

Smiling, the girl replied, "I'm glad."

Flushing more, Naruto turned away, shuffling her feet. What was with her acting so goofy all of a sudden? She was supposed to be a super-cool ninja! 'You never see Sasuke acting like this!' "Um… well, I better get going, too…" Turning back to the girl, she gave a quick bow before bounding off. "Bye!"

The girl watched her retreating back, the smile slowly melting from her face. They were similar in many ways – she could sense it just by looking at her. It was unfair that they had to meet under such circumstances, but there was nothing she could do. 'Yes, we will be meeting again…' she thought, fingering the senbon once again in her hand. 'And for that, I am sorry…'

oooo

Naruto bounded back towards Tazuna's house, struggling to rid her cheeks of their suspiciously pink tint. She'd never reacted in such a way while talking with Sakura-chan before! What was the big deal? Before she could ponder this thought in further depth, she slammed into something warm and solid, causing her to stumble backwards.

"Arrghh! What the hell?!" She glanced upwards, finding familiar dark eyes glaring back at her. "What do you think you're doing, Teme?"

Sasuke gave her a once over, a scowl forming over his face. "You're the one that ran into me, Idiot!"

"Yeah right!" Rising to her feet, she looked away huffily. "What're you doing here anyway?"

"Somebody had to drag you back to the house."

"I don't hafta be dragged anywhere! I was on my way back!"

"Hn." He turned away, heading back the way he'd come. "Let's go."

Staring at his back a few seconds, Naruto made a face, sticking out her tongue with a loud, "Nyaaaa!"

With his back facing her, she missed the small smirk that formed on his face.

oooo

~ "I may not know what it is Gatou's done to you and your family, but that doesn't mean for even a second that I don't know what it is to suffer." ~

Though the blonde had returned to the house with Sasuke as if she hadn't stomped out before, Sakura couldn't help but replay her words over and over in her mind. Because she was all jokes and smiles a majority of the time, it was unsettling to think that Naruto had ever experienced unhappiness that had nothing to do with a lack of Ramen.

Of course, somewhere in the back of her mind the pink-haired kunoichi had known that her hyperactive teammate lacked parents. She knew many of the adults in the village were distrustful of the blonde – though she still didn't know why. However, she'd taken Naruto's boisterous behavior as a sign that the blonde just didn't seem to care.

'But she does…' She'd seem a glimpse of bitterness in her blue eyes before she stormed out of the house. Sakura hadn't even realized that she'd been capable of such an emotion. 'Then again… there's a lot we don't know about her…'

Naruto was a girl. Yet she'd followed her around all the time in the Academy like a love-sick puppy. Did that mean she was attracted to her…? Her face flushed red at the thought. 'No way…!'

Unfortunately for Sakura, while coming to this particular revelation, she'd been several feet in the air, hanging upside down from a tree branch. With the lapse in concentration, the chakra holding her feet to the bark vanished, allowing gravity to pull her towards the ground below with a shriek.

A hand clamped around her ankle, halting her decent. "Pay more attention to what you're doing."

Sakura looked up (er… down) at her savior, her eyes wide with relief. "Sa-Sasuke-kun…!"

He didn't meet her eyes as he pulled her up. "I don't feel like having to carry you back to the house…"

She flushed, nodding her head in embarrassment. She was supposed to be focusing on her training, not worrying about Naruto! But still…! "I'm sorry… I was just thinking about last night…"

He glanced at her briefly. "Hn,"

"I don't know what it's like…" she admitted. "Even though I don't get to see them often… my parents are alive…" She remembered complaining to him about her mother getting on her case, only to face his sharp reprimand. "I can't even relate…" She was so different from them, she realized.

~ "It wasn't a prank!" ~ Naruto had snapped at her. Naruto never snapped at her. ~ "You don't get it at all!" ~

"We wouldn't want you to,"

The Uchiha was seated on the branch now, staring down at the forest floor. Was he thinking about his family? Or about Naruto? Why was it he was so focused on her, Sakura wondered. Was it because of her skill? Hesitantly, she lowered herself down beside him. He didn't object. "I know…" she said after a long moment. "Thank you for helping me."

She thought of Naruto once again, now at the building site with Tazuna. She'd shown so much progress with their training while Sakura herself felt like she was being left behind. "I know I'm probably such a burden…" She stared at the ground.

Sasuke snorted. "It doesn't matter," he answered. "You're my teammate. I'm supposed to look after you."

She blushed, trying not to squeal in delight. Instead, she nodded in agreement. "Teammates look after each other," she said. Glancing at him through thick bangs, she said softly. "If it's not too much a bother," Sasuke glanced at her and her blush deepened. "You can let me look after you, too…" His eyes widened slightly. "I know I'm not as strong as you guys, though, I know… but I figured I'd just let you know, because, you know… we're teammates, like you said…"

Well, that had certainly been eloquent. At least she had managed to leave out any declarations of undying love and affection. *YOU'RE NO FUN AT ALL!* Inner Sakura said huffily.

He stared at her a few moments before looking away again. "Hn… do whatever you want." He rose to his feet. "It's almost time for our shift at the bridge." In a flash, he jumped down from the branch, touching nimbly on the ground.

"Right," Sakura jumped down after him, missing the rosy tint that graced his cheeks.

Both of them were oblivious to the pleased look on Kakashi's face.

oooo

From her perch on a large stack of dried cement sacks, Naruto surveyed the construction with a bored expression, fighting back a loud yawn. She knew how important the building of this bridge was to Nami no Kuni. The detail gone into its construction was intriguing to Naruto, even if a lot of it she didn't understand. Still, guard detail in itself was so lame! She could have had more fun training!

Tazuna gave her an annoyed glare. "You better not be fallin' asleep on me, brat," he warned. "I'll tell your Sensei."

The blonde jumped up, fixing him a glare of her own. "Yeah right, Jiji, I'll have you know I'm 100% alert! Nothin's gonna get past me!" To prove her point, she hopped up on top of the cement stack, searching back and forth.

The old man laughed at her antics until one of his workers approached him with a drawn expression on his face. He frowned, "Something wrong?"

The man sighed heavily, refusing to meet his eye. "Tazuna…" he said slowly, clenching his hands at his sides. "I can't stay on anymore… I'm quitting the job!"

"Wha…? You can't!"

Naruto watched the exchange silently.

"I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous," The other man looked away. "I got my family to think of…" He paused, finally meeting his eyes beseechingly. "You understand… right?"

"Yeah…" Tazuna grunted, staring off into the distance. "Get out of here…"

"Tazuna…"

"Just go." The man relented, walking away leaving a frustrated Tazuna behind. He clenched his hands tightly, cursing under his breath. "If this keeps up…"

"You're not giving up, too, are you…?" He glanced back at the blonde, pausing at the stern expression on her whiskered face. Idly he wondered where the marks came from before pushing the thought away.

"Hell no! I'm gonna finish this bridge even if I hafta do it with my own two hands!"

"That's what I thought." She stood up, grinning. "Well, rest assured, Jiji, you've got my help!" Bringing her hands into the familiar cross seal, suddenly they were surrounded by several dozen clones.

"And ours, too!" they chorused.

Tazuna could only stare in awe.

"So," Naruto fox-grinned. "Where do we start?"

oooo

"Waaaaghhh! Sakura-chaaaaaannn!"

"Don't you 'Sakura-chan' me, Naruto! I don't want to hear it!"

The three genin of Team 7 made their way back into Tazuna's house that evening, Sasuke and Sakura on foot, with Naruto between them bound tight. Upon their arrival at the construction site, they'd been surprised to find most of the worker gone, replaced by dozens of Naruto clones. According to the old bridge builder, the blonde and the clones had spent most of the day laboring on the bridge.

Naturally, they'd been surprised at their teammates' cleverness, but Sakura's logic kicked in and she immediately demanded that Naruto release the jutsu before she hurt herself. Of course, Naruto had assured her that she and her chakra reserves were perfectly fine. This, of course infuriated Sasuke – where on earth did she get such stamina? – but Sakura would hear none of it. She'd gone straight to Kakashi with her complaint, and he agreed that it was unwise of Naruto – despite her mastery of the Jounin-level jutsu – to use it over and over repeatedly for extended periods of time. The girl had to take a break sometime, didn't she?

Entering the sitting room, the two dropped her on the floor. "Ack! Could you two be any rougher?!"

Tsunami peeked her head into the room, curiosity on her face. "What's going on here?"

Sakura smiled at the older woman before frowning at the blonde once again. "Naruto here is to stay here and get some rest—" She started to object but was halted by angry green eyes. "Sensei's orders." *SO STAY PUT, YOU BLOCKHEAD! SHAAA!*

"You weren't hurt were you, Naruto-san?" Tsunami asked, fully entering the room to give the girl a worried glance. She didn't miss the blonde's stunned look of surprise, quickly covered over by a sullen pout directed at her female teammate.

"Not yet, anyway," Sakura answered, placing her hands on her hips. "Honestly, Naruto, just because you can make solid Bunshin clones doesn't mean that you make 60 and have them running around for hours!" It was hard to say who had been more surprised by the sight. She continued on with her lecture, wagging a finger at her. "Don't you know that your chakra gets divided up as many times as you replicate? Are you trying go use up all your chakra? Chakra Depletion is very serious!"

The sullen pout vanished from Naruto's face, once again replaced by honest confusion. She blinked at her. "You… you're worried about me…?"

That brought Sakura up short, causing her to blush slightly. She remembered Sasuke's words from earlier. "You're my teammate," she said. "I certainly don't want you to drop dead or anything…"

Naruto glanced away, the fox-grin slipping over her face. However, this time the others noticed how fake it looked. She forced out a laugh. "Boy, it sure seems like it sometimes…"

Sakura had the grace to look embarrassed. Sure Naruto was annoying at times, but she certainly didn't hate her. She knew that… didn't she? "Er, like I said, Kakashi-sensei wants you to rest up. You never know when we'll need to fight again."

Sasuke frowned.

Naruto nodded. "Hai, hai, Sakura-chan!"

Noticing the tense mood had lifted, Tsunami smiled. "Don't worry," she said, placing a hand on a bewildered Naruto's shoulder. "I'll keep an eye on Naruto-san for you," Said blonde balked at having to be baby-sat, but something told the older woman that she really didn't mind.

"Thank you, Tsunami-san," Sakura bowed. With that, she and Sasuke left to continue their shift at the bridge.

Waiting until they were gone, Naruto sighed and began the task of freeing herself from the ropes keeping her bound.

Tsunami blinked at her quick progress. "Those looked like they were very tight," she ventured.

Naruto grinned at her. "I wouldn't be a good ninja if I couldn't get out of a couple knotted ropes." She paused, thoughtful. "They underestimate my greatness

The older woman smiled gently, her maternal eyes catching the troubled expression flitting briefly across the girl's face. "I don't believe your friends meant to hurt your feelings," she said. "They were just worried about you hurting yourself…"

"Oh, I know that," Naruto sighed. "I guess they keep forgetting I'm not the doofus I pretend to be…" She shrugged. "Not like I make it any easier…"

Tsunami frowned in confusion. "What do you mean…?"

"I keep a lot of secrets." Blue eyes met hers. At her confused expression, Naruto continued, "We haven't been teammates all that long, so I guess we're all still adjustin' to each other… Still, no matter what, I'm not gonna let them down. They're some of my precious people now." Free from her ropes, she headed back towards the door.

"Naruto…" Tsunami rose after her. "Your Sensei wanted you to rest…" She folded her arms, giving her a chiding look. "That means no training."

'Ack… she's just like Iruka-sensei!' Grinning guiltily, Naruto scratched her head abashedly. "Hai, hai, Tsunami-san, I promise I won't." The older woman gave her a doubtful look. "I'm just gonna go for a walk. I'll be back before dinner, I promise!"

She was out the door before Tsunami could object, leaving her to give an exasperated sigh.

oooo

Kakashi surveyed the progress of the bridge, his eye registering honest surprise. "Well, now…"

Standing beside him, Tazuna grinned smugly. "Heh, that little imp of yours sure took a chunk out of our workload."

"No kidding," another worker agreed, looking over their work schedule. "S'matter of fact, we're way ahead of schedule!"

Closing his eye in a grin, Kakashi replied, "I'm glad to hear it."

Tazuna chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his ever present towel. "She's somethin' else, that kid. Never seen nobody like her," He paused, glancing at the ninja. "Don't know what happened to her that was so bad, but she doesn't deserve it. Not one bit."

Kakashi remained silent.

Realizing he was not going to get any information, Tazuna gave up the ghost, turning back to survey his team. "Ah well, guess it ain't my business anyway…. Back to work we go!" He started to walk away. "After all, can't have her thinking we need her to do our work for us… I'd never hear the end of it!"

The Jounin grinned once again.

oooo

She was here once again.

The figure stared at the blonde in the distance, fast asleep at the base of the tree. 'Why must we meet like this…?' Approaching the leaf genin was difficult – she was so defenseless. 'I should kill you now… But…' The senbon in hand faltered at the soft smile that drifted across her face. 'Why do I hesitate…? What is it about you that stays my hand…?'

~ "But for some reason, talking with you made me feel a little better." ~

Bright blue eyes so open and honest despite the hurt and pain lingering beneath the surface; what was it about them…?

The blonde stirred, and the figure reached forward to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

Blue eyes opened and blinked a few times before focusing on the figure's face. Happiness registered almost instantly. "Neesan, you're back!"

'Neesan' smiled softly. "So I am. You wanted to meet again, ne?"

The blonde nodded. "I'm glad!" She paused, a slight pink tint spreading across her face. "I had a question for you… I hope you don't mind…"

"Yes?"

"I know we won't be here for very long, but, um…" The blush on her face deepened. It was very cute.

'Cute…?'

"Well, I was wondering… if maybe we could be friends…?"

Silence. "You want to be friends…?"

"Um, yeah… if it's all right," She looked down, embarrassed. "You said we had a lot in common so I thought it would be nice if I could call you my friend… I really don't have that many, but I thought it would be okay…"

'I don't have many either…' A masked ninja came to mind, only to be pushed gently away. "I would like very much to be your friend."

"Really?" 'Neesan' was suddenly enveloped in a deep hug. "That's so great!" The blond remembered herself, pulling back in embarrassment. "Sorry, that was rude of me…"

"No… that's all right…" 'How long has it been since I've been hugged…?'

The blonde was still blushing, muttering under her breath. "What'sa matter with you, baka, you're actin' all girly!"

"There's something wrong with being girly?"

The blonde blinked. "Huh? Oh no… I'm just not used it yet, I guess…" She rubbed her head, pausing when her stomach rumbled loudly. She flushed once again. "Sorry…"

"That's all right," 'Neesan' smiled, reaching into a basket beside her. She pulled out a wrapped onigiri. "Here, have this."

The blonde accepted it with an awed expression. "For me?"

"You're hungry, aren't you?"

She nodded, attacking it with gusto. "So, have you lived here long?"

"No, I'm… just passing through."

"Not alone, right?"

There was a pause. "There is… someone with me."

The blonde grinned. "Your precious person, right?"

There was a nod followed by an honest smile. "Yes… he's done a great deal for me. I owe him very much." 'And yet here I am… with one of his enemies… So why do I not feel as guilty as I should…?'

"That sounds like my Iruka-sensei," the blonde mused. "He's one of the first people to ever acknowledge me…"

"You're very lucky then."

"You are, too, y'know." The blonde replied. "You've got your precious person… and…" She paused, finishing her rice ball before facing the other girl with a grin. "And now you've got me, too!"

The girl started back at her in surprise. She didn't know anything about this girl, but for some reason her words felt so right… "Yes… that's true…"

The blonde nodded and started to speak again when another voice in the distance broke the silence. She craned her head, grinning in resignation.

"You recognize that person?" She felt disappointed for the intrusion. But why…?

The blonde nodded. "Yup, that's Sakura-chan; she's my teammate. She's a little bossy, and really aggressive, but overall she's really nice." There was a pause. "You wanna meet her?"

"That's all right…" 'I've already stayed too long… he'll be wondering where I've gone…' "I need to be going. We'll be moving on soon."

The blonde's face fell. "Oh… do you think we'll be able to meet up one last time before you go?" she asked hopefully. "I really liked talking with you."

"I… don't know…"

"Oh, well, that's okay…"

"But if we don't…" The blonde let out an 'eep' as the other girl moved towards her, suddenly inches away from hers. "I'm happy that we met."

The blonde's face was very red now. 'Too cute…!' "N-n-n-neesan!" she squeaked out. "I'm a girl-!" Her words died as their lips met in a light kiss.

'Neesan' pulled away, smiling softly. "I know," she said. "But I'm not."

With that, 'she' walked away, leaving the blushing genin standing in the clearing.

oooo

Zabuza glanced up as his subordinate entered the room. He spared his entire an amused glance before turning back to the task of removing his bandages. However, he filed the light-hearted expression on his face away for another day. What the kid did in his down time was his own business.

Still… "Where were you?"

There was a long pause. "Out looking for medicines… for your injuries."

He was lying; not that it mattered, of course. "I don't need them." The last of his bandages fell away. "Tomorrow we're going after the Bridge builder. If those Leaf fools get in our way," He turned and reached for his zanbatou, missing the pained expression on his subordinate's face. "We kill them. Got it, Haku?"

Haku, or 'Neesan', nodded slowly. "Yes… Zabuza-sama."

* * *

End Chapter 5


	7. Chapter 06

Chapter 6

Naruto was still standing in the clearing when Sakura finally found her. The reprimand she had prepared for the blonde fell from her lips as she took in the dazed expression on her face. The pink kunoichi paused a few paces away, puzzled. Here was yet another expression she couldn't recall ever seeing on her teammate's face before. However, such puzzling would have to wait - it was getting late and she was not about to be caught out in the woods defenseless with only a spaced-out blonde as her back-up.

'Even if that blonde is still so much stronger than you...' a voice niggled. Ignoring it, she closed the distance between them, pulling a no-nonsense frown to her face. "There you are, Naruto!" she exclaimed loudly, hoping it would draw the blonde's attention to her. It didn't. "I've been looking all over for you!" She came up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder, lightly. "Naruto?"

She half-expected her to turn around swinging, but instead blue eyes fell on her, blinking a few times before actually recognizing her. "Hey... Sakura-chan..."

Sakura's frown deepened slightly. Had she just experienced a genjutsu or something? "What's the matter with you?" Worry could be heard beneath her exasperated tone. "You didn't hurt yourself training, did you? Kakashi-sensei ordered you not to -"

"I wasn't training," said the blonde. "Honest!"

Her frown turned slightly suspicious. "Then why are you being so weird? And why is your face so red?" The blonde's cheeks only darkened further. Was she actually blushing? "What, did you fry your brains out this morning while training or something?"

Naruto blinked at her before evolving into raucous laughter. "You're so funny, Sakura-chan!" She hadn't found anything remotely funny about her statement. The blonde grinned obliviously, turning away. "C'mon, we better head back, ne! Let's go!"

"Naruto... Tazuna-san's house is that way."

oooo

"I swear, you're being so weird!"

"Weird, Sakura-chan?"

"...Well, weirder than normal..." Green eyes studied the blonde, causing her to grin uneasily. "I mean, what were you even doing out there anyway? You were supposed to be resting."

Naruto blinked, "I went for a walk, just like I told Tsunami-san."

"But I heard another voice before I found you," The other two teammates turned their attentions towards the conversation now. "Was there somebody else with you?"

With all eyes suddenly on her, Naruto blushed once again.

Tazuna grinned at the blonde. "Ahhh, I see how it is," The three youths in the room turned to him. "You were having a secret liason with your boyfriend, weren't you?"

"Father," Tsunami admonished. "Honestly, you and your imagination..." She turned to Naruto, expecting her to refute the claim, but the blonde was sputtering helplessly.

Her mind went back to the kimono-clad boy and the parting kiss he had left her. Her face was as red as Sakura's dress. "H-h-he's not my boyfriend!"

"Oh, so it was a boy...? Heh heh, maybe you're not such a tomboy after all."

"When'd you have time to make friends with anyone?" Sasuke paused, surprised at himself for voicing the question aloud. Why should it have mattered to him anyway. It's not like he cared how the Dobe spent her time, right?

"I've only met him twice, but he's real nice..." Naruto admitted honestly. "We've got a whole lot in common..." The boy's sad brown eyes and understanding smile suddenly came to mind.

"This boy... that's a friend of yours..." The sound of Kakashi's slow drawl roused Naruto from her thoughts. "He's a villager...?"

Naruto's face fell slightly. "No, he's travelling... him and another friend of his... they said they'd be leaving soon..."

Tsunami frowned in sympathy, but Kakashi's visible eye narrowed slightly. It wasn't possible, was it...? 'If that's true... why didn't he kill her...?' He turned to question the blonde further, only to find her head pillowed against the table, fast asleep.

"Naruto..." Though asleep, the goofy grin was still present on the blonde's face. Sakura sighed, shaking her head. "I guess she fried her brains after all!"

Tsunami sighed sadly. "You all are training so hard..." She bowed her head low, hiding the tears rimming her eyes. "I don't know how we can ever properly thank you..."

"You've already helped us a whole bunch, Tsunami-san," Sakura smiled. "I mean, just the other day Naruto was going on and on about how she liked your cooking. 'Second only to Ichiraku' she said."

The woman blushed in embarrassment, even though she had no idea what an 'Ichiraku' was.

Kakashi only chuckled, collecting the girl in his arms and carrying her upstairs. 'Rest up, Naruto,' he thought, his eye closing in a grin. 'You're gonna need it.'

oooo

'Ninja... stupid fools think they know everything...' Behind tinted glasses, Gatou scowled. For all their strength and skill they were useless when another, stronger ninja came along. It only went further to prove what he had believed all along. Only one sort of strength was necessary - the strength found one found in money. So long as you possessed it, there was nothing that was beyond your reach.

However, there was still the matter of the Bridge Builder to attend to. He couldn't very well allow said bridge to be completed - it would ruin everything. He'd had every attention of having them taken care of, and even that hadn't turned out as he'd expected. To think... that the supposed Demon Ninja of the Mist would fall so easily to a school marm out with his students on Field Trip Day! It was pathetic!

At the mention of said nukenin under his employ. He'd gone to confront the Mist-nin for his abysmal failures only to be waylaid by his little punk of a subordinate. Could you believe the brat had actually broken his arm? Sputtering such nonsense about 'laying a filthy hand on Zabuza-sama'.

Zabuza-sama... Zabuza-SAMA...?!

Who was some prissy little snot to talk to him, Gatou, the wealthiest man in Nami no Kuni, in such a disrepectful way? Didn't he know who he was? Didn't he fear his power?

Perhaps not... but Gatou would rectify that. Make no mistake.

Turning to one of his own subordinates, some two-bit samurai thug, he replied. "Where are they now?"

"They've gone to the bridge," he answered.

So, they were finally getting to work, huh? Too bad he'd already lost patience with them. "Let them have their fun then," he sneered. "I want you and one of your men to go to the Bridge Builder's house - kill whoever you find there." The samurai grinned at the prospect of violence. "It's about time we remind everyone who's in charge around here."

As the samurai nodded and left, Gatou chuckled darkly to himself at the promise of his plans finally coming to fruition. After all, as the saying went, if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself.

oooo

Opening her eyes slowly, the first thing Naruto saw was the dark, sullen face of Inari. She squealed, ducking back under the covers of her futon. 'Wait... futon... wasn't I downstairs...?'

"Squealing like a little girl... You sure you're a ninja?"

Naruto glared at him and he glared right back. "What're you doing here?" she said. "How'd I get upstairs?"

"Your weirdo sensei carried you up here," he answered after a long pause. "Two days ago."

She jumped up out of bed, slightly surprised she was still in her clothes. "Two days?!" 'Though I'm not sure whether to be happy or disgusted I'm not in my pjs...' Musing over this, she laughed a little, sitting back down. "I guess Sakura-chan was right, I fried my brains after all." Inari gave her a measuring look. "What?"

"Why are you training so hard?"

Without pausing to think, she replied, "So that I can complete my mission."

"All this for a stupid mission?"

"It's not stupid," Naruto argued. "Your Granddad's dream is to complete his bridge so everybody in your village can thrive again. I have to be strong and protect him... so you don't lose any more precious people."

The little boy started in surprise. How had she known...?

The blonde grinned, "I'm a lot smarter than people give me credit..."

Inari looked slightly doubtful. "But you act like a doofus when your teammates are around."

Her blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "It's easier to surprise people when they don't know what to expect from you."

A smirk slowly blooming across his face, Inari let out a small snort. "You're weird."

If it were at all possible, her grin widened even further. "Thanks!"

Despite himself, Inari laughed a little.

Naruto was about to make another comment when a strange sound caught her attention, there was some rustling followed by the breaking of glass.

Having heard it as well, Inari frowned and rose to his feet. "Ma...?" A hand stilled his movement and he turned to Naruto in confusion, only to have her silence him with a finger to her lips.

The smile was gone from her face, replaced by a stern frown. "Something ain't right," she murmured. Reaching for the kunai pouch that lay beside her futon, she edged towards the door. Inari followed behind her, and the two slowly made their way downstairs into the sitting room only to find it completely turned upside-down. Chairs had been overturned, glasses and picture frames smashed to pieces.

The perpetrators of said vandalism stood before them, Tsunami standing between them with a frightened look on her face.

Seeing the sight of his mother in danger, Inari let out a strangled cry, rushing towards her. "MA!" He was spared from possibly imminent danger by Naruto blocking his path.

The first thug smirked, giving the two youths a once over. Two little kids against them? Like taking candy from a baby... "Well, well, what've we here?"

The second thug turned to him, sharing his amusement. "Looks like we got ourselves two more hostages." Drawing out his blade, he sniggered quietly. "Come over here quietly an' we won't have to hurt you."

Inari shuddered in fear.

Naruto, however, let out an indignant snort. "You kidding?" She folded her arms over her chest. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried."

Thug #2 blinked in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me," A grim smirk made its way across her whiskered face. "You think we're scared of you two? Some two-bit hoods? What a joke!"

The thug holding Tsunami snarled and pushed the woman aside, intent on putting the blonde in her place, tanto in hand. Unfortunately Naruto was prepared for him. She side-stepped him, knocking the short blade out of his grip with a swift hand-chop that had it flying into the wall beside Inari's head. The thug seemed bewildered she had managed to disarm him so easily, but he soon found himself unconcious courtesy of a blow to the back of his neck.

"Inari," Naruto snapped, cutting off any retort the boy would have made about being cautious. "Grab your mom and get outta here!"

He blinked. Was she serious? "But you -"

"Nobody's goin' anywhere!" Though the second thug was surprised his comrade had been disabled so quickly, he vowed he would not share the same fate. Before she could cross the floor to meet her son, the thug grabbed Tsunami by her hair, pulling her back towards him.

"MA!" Inari quailed at the sight of the blade at her pale throat. He couldn't allow his mother to die! He had to do something - anything!

"DIE!" The blade sunk in for the kill, but was suddenly met with resistance. "Wha...?" What had once been his hostage was replaced by a short, stubby tree stump. "Eh...?"

"So impatient..." He glanced up to meet the whiskered face of the blonde before everything faded to black. After he dropped to the ground, Naruto sighed and wiped her hands against her pant legs. "Well, that takes care of that, ne, Inari-kun?"

He gaped at her in surprise. "But... but.. .my Ma..."

She grinned at him before turning away. "Tsunami-san, you all right?"

The closet door opened and out stepped the young boy's mother, a little tussled, but no worse for the wear. "Ah, yes..." She rubbed at her head, confused as to what had happened. "But how did I...?"

"No time for questions!" Naruto was already set about the task of tying the two attackers. "With those two clowns here, that means No-Eyebrows and his sidekick are on their way to the bridge - if they're not there already..."

Inari gasped, watching her with wide frightned eyes. "You mean you're going after them?" She nodded with a grin on her face. "But you can't! You -"

Naruto gave him a reassuring pat on the head. "What did I tell you before?" she asked. "It's my job to look after your Granddad - annoying old goofball that he is - I can't let anything bad happen to him. I also can't just stand by while my teamates are in trouble, either."

Though her son was still confused, Tsunami nodded in understanding. She smiled, even though her eyes shone with worry. "I hope you're able to get there in time." she said.

"Of course I will!" Naruto crowed. "The hero always shows up just in the knick of time to save the day!" She bounded out the door, waving as she went. "See ya later!"

"Be careful!" Inari called after her.

"Don't worry," Tsunami was beside him, resting her hands on his shoulders. "I'm sure everything will be just fine."

He nodded, watching the blonde vanish from sight. "I know... 'cuz Naruto's strong."

oooo

She could hear the sounds of the two Jounin's battle - metal clashing against metal. Sasuke was out there somewhere as well, engaging the mysterious masked nin who had turned out to be the missing nin's subordinate after all. Everything on the bridge was shrouded in the mist from the nukenin's jutsu, and the poor kunoichi had no clue as to who was winning or losing. She was all alone, the last line of defenese between Tazuna and the enemy.

'What happens if they fail...?' her mind wondered, not for the first time that day. 'I'm not strong enough to protect Tazuna on my own... I need help... I need...'

"Sakura-chan!" Both she and Tazuna looked up in surprise at the sight of the blonde kunoichi emerging out of the mist towards them.

Sakura's eyes threatened to spill tears of relief before she managed to regain some of her composure. "Naruto! You're here!"

The blonde's grinning response caused some of the tension to leave the old bridge builder's body. "You brat, took you long enough!" he exclaimed, though the relief was also evident in his tone. "How'd you even find us through this mess?"

"Followed my nose, ya old geezer!" came her laughing response. "Maybe ya should lay off the sauce a bit, ne?"

If they survived this, not a single drop of liquor would cross his lips ever again...

"Naruto!" The blonde turned towards her teammate and the worry still in her eyes. "I'm worried about Kakashi-sensei... and Sasuke-kun! He's fighting that masked boy from before. I don't know what's going on..."

"Don't worry 'bout him, Sakura-chan," she placated. "I'm sure tht teme'll be okay. He's pretty tough, y'know."

"But I can't do anything..." She blinked. "Every time, it's been you by his side... fighting the enemy... it's your strength that's..."

"Sakura-chan...?"

"Please..." Sakura grasped Naruto's hands, staring into her eyes pleadingly. "Please help Sasuke-kun. I'll keep Tazuna-san safe..." 'It's all I can do...'

Blue eyes met hers in understanding. "I will, Sakura-chan. I promise." With that said, she turned and ran off, vanishing into the fog.

Sakura watched her go, aware of the weight of Tazuna's hand on her shoulder. 'Please be safe...' she thought. 'All three of you...'

oooo

Sasuke wiped the sweat from his eyes, taking gasping breaths as he surveyed his surroundings. The masked ninja had been dancing circles around him since the beginning of their fight. He'd even gone so far to erect mirrors of ice that surrounded him on all sides, and he'd vanish into these mirrors to reappear elsewhere to attack. 'Is it some sort of genjutsu...?' He'd suspected so at first, but the pain he'd felt from the senbon being hurled at him had definitely been real. A bloodlimit perhaps? He scowled and wiped his eyes again, ignoring the burning sensation he felt behind them. Was there nothing he could do against this guy? Was he really that weak?

'No... I'm not weak...' He clenched his hands in fists, fighting back those insecure feelings. His brother... his teammate... He'd defeat them both, but first... "I will beat you!"

The masked ninja emerged from a mirror behind him, senbon ready in hand. "I sense your frustration," he said calmly. "You know this battle is pointless, and yet you refuse to desist. It is foolish for you to continue..."

The Uchiha scowled, studying his opponent. "That's not gonna happen!" The other ninja sighed and then glanced away, as if expecting something. Now was his chance! His hands were already flying through the seals. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"

The ninja stared at the plume of flame shooting towards him never budging. "That didn't work the first time you tried it..." He stepped back, melding into the mirror behind him.

'Damn it!' Sasuke tensed, preparing for the nin's next onslaught. The burning behind his eyes increased, and he squinted to ward it off, only to pause in shock. Was the other ninja moving more slowly? He watched as the mist nin raised his arm, hurling senbon in his direction. 'I can... I can see his movements...?' He dodged the first attack, and then flipped back to avoid the second, watching as the senbon harmlessly imbedded themselves into the pavement before him.

Needle in hand, Haku paused to study his opponent. 'Has he gotten faster...?' Behind his mask, brown eyes narrowed in understanding as he hurled another volley. 'No... he can read my movements...' He cursed slightly, shifting to another mirror. 'I suppose I've stalled long enough... I have to end this...' Raising his hand to deliver another attack, his actions were halted when the mirror beside him shattered into a thousands pieces as a large hunk of cemet flew through it, landing at his feet with a loud thunk

Sasuke's eyes were wide in surprise. "What the hell...?!" He stared at the hole the hunk had created, eyes widening even further at the blonde kunoichi that stepped through to survey, no doubt her handiwork. 'Naruto...?!'

Poking at a few dangling shards, Naruto grinned ruefully. "Eee... I hope I don't get 7 years of bad luck behind this... my life's difficult enough as it is..."

Shifting to another mirror, Haku felt a twinge of pain. 'So, you've come after all...'

The dark haired leaf genin stared at his comrade as she slowly meandered towards him. As if a battle to the death hadn't been going on just moments ago... "You broke through...?"

Blue eyes shifted to him. "It took a couple tries..." she answered honestly. "That stuff's cold like ice, but it's reinforced with chakra... so, I figured chakra reinforced ice, chakra reinforced rock... It took me a couple tries to keep the cement from breaking under the stress, but... " She shrugged. "I got the hang of it I guess..."

'She's clever...' Haku remarked silently.

Naruto gave her fellow genin a once over, taking stock of all of his injuries. "You all right?" she asked softly.

Sasuke turned away from her angrily. "I'm fine." he ground out. He wasn't weak. "You should've stayed with the bridge builder."

"What fun would that have been?"

"I don't need your help."

The blonde's expression turned doubtful. "Says the one bleeding all over the place - eh?!" Senbon rained down over them suddenly and quick to act, Naruto dove on top of him, shielding his body with hers. "Damn it... that hurts!"

"What the hell are you doing!" Sasuke shoved her off with a sharp elbow to the gut. "I told you don't need -!"

Wincing, Naruto fixed him with a dry glare. "What, so I should just abandon you? Sorry, but that's not gonna happen, Teme!" She slowly rose to her feet, pulling him up with her despite his silent protests. "Konoha ninja stick together."

"Admirable, but foolish..." Haku's image appeared around them on all sides. "Staying means death, you know."

Putting her back to Sasuke's, Naruto faced the mirror in front of her with a grim smirk. "We all gotta die someday," she said, drawing a kunai from her pouch. "But I don't plan on dying today - I got dreams to fulfill."

"Dreams...?" Haku raised his arm. "I, too, have dreams. We shall see whose are the strongest!" He punctuated his words with another onslaught of his needles. The two leaf nin dodged the attack.

"Fine by me!" Naruto moved to rush towards him, only to be held back by Sasuke.

"Hold on," Sasuke ground out.

She glared, yanking her arm free from his grip. "What, Sasuke? You want me to go?" Her eyes darkened in anger. "I told you I don't abandon my teammates! And certainly not my friends! So just shut up cuz you're stuck with me!"

Taken aback by her vehemence, it took several moments for Sasuke to recover enough to continue his orignal thought. "I know..." he said softly, causing her to blink at him in surprise. "Just... keep him busy for me all right? I've got a plan."

Naruto's anger melted away, replaced by a mischievous grin. "That's better," She turned, redirecting her attention on the masked ninja in front of her. "All right, Kamen-san, let's play!" She brought her hands together in her favorite seal. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

To say Haku was surprised would be an understatement. 'She knows a jounin-level jutsu...?' The obviousness of the statement became clear when the blonde ninja was replaced by 12 duplicates. Behind his mask he frowned. 'It doesn't matter!'

Sasuke watched the display with stunned eyes. As many times as the mist nin would destroy her clones, Naruto would just replace them with more. 'Where does she get it from... all that stamina...?' Remembering the task he had set for himself, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. With a deep cleansing breath, he closed his eyes, focusing his own chakra. 'Okay, Sasuke, it's time to put your own training to work...'

Haku evaded another of Naruto's bunshin with practiced ease, frowning in frustration when it was just replaced by another. 'Where is the real one? It shouldn't be this difficult to tell!' Shifting out of his mirror, he prepared to attack once again only to be slammed into from the side. He looked up, narrowly avoiding a sweeping kick from the dark-haired Uchiha.

Naruto and her clones blinked in surprise. 'He got there so fast... How...?'

Sasuke smirked, staring at the masked face of his opponent.

Haku gasped. "Those eyes... they're the same..." The younger boy's eyes, once dark as coal, were now a crimson red, punctuated by two black tomoe.

A clone passed the information along to the original, causing Naruto to blink in surprise. "He's got Sharingan!"

The moment suddenly broken by the blonde's exclamation, Sasuke drew several shuriken from his pouch, hurling them at Haku as he rushed forward. Haku threw senbon in retaliation, but they were easily evaded. 'He has gotten faster...' The missing nin felt a rush of apprehension - not for fear of losing, but of what he knew he now had to do. 'I cannot put it off any longer...'

Sasuke scowled as his opponent slipped back into on of his mirrors, vanishing from sight.

"Where's he gonna reappear...?" Naruto called.

Sasuke didn't answer, red eyes darting back and forth. 'To the left, the right... behind..'

Haku emerged slowly from one of his mirrors, staring down at the blonde head beneath him. 'Please forgive me... dear friend...'

'Below... Above..!' Sasuke's eyes shot to Naruto, then to the glint of metal above her head. 'Shit!' "Naruto!"

She blinked in surprise as he rushed towards her, knocking her to the ground. A cry of outrage died on her lips as the sound of senbon hitting flesh reached her ears. "Sasuke...?" She shifted, eyes widening at the amount of needles protruding out of the body of her teammate. "Wha..." She gulped, hardly believing her eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

He wheezed, struggling to rise to his feet. The red had faded from his eyes, leaving a glazed charcoal behind. "I don't know..." he murmured. His legs buckled beneath and he dropped to his knees, earning a startled yelp from the blonde beside him. "Damn, that was stupid of me..."

"Sasuke..." Naruto reached for him, hands shaking and hesitant. "You shouldn't have - you took way too many hits already!"

"I know that!" he snapped with more energy than he felt he could have mustered.

"Then why?!"

"How should I know...?" Her eyes paled in disbelief. "My body moved on its own..." Letting out a groan, he pitched forward, landing in her arms.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shook him wildly, earning a groan and a glare for her efforts. "No, no, no, no! You can't do this - Sakura-chan-"

Sasuke stared up at her with hazy eyes. "I wanted only one thing..." She blinked at him. "That man... the one who killed my family... I wanted to kill him..."

She remembered him saying something similar during their first team introduction. "Who is he...?"

"My brother..." He ignored her gasp of surprise. "I wanted to avenge them all... that was my dream..." He paused, meeting her wide, glassy eyes. "No matter what... don't die... don't you die... Naru...to..." His eyes slowly slid shut.

"Sasuke!" Naruto leant down closer to Sasuke only to be knocked back and away from him by another onslaught of senbon. She hit the ground, rolling several feet away, groaning in pain. "Sa... suke..."

Haku withdrew himself fully from his mirror, touching down several feet away. "Forgive me.." he said quietly, seeing the raw physical and spiritual hurt and disbelief behind her eyes. "I never wished to cause you any harm, but you and your friend are an obstacle in my master's path." He paused, lowering his head in something akin to shame. "You had to be removed."

Naruto lay on the ground, unmoving. "Sasuke..."

"It is painful to lose someone precious to you..." His mind dredged up images of his mother, but he quickly forced them back down. "However, such is the life of the shinobi..." He walked towards her slowly. "Take comfort in knowing his death was quick."

'Dead... Sasuke is dead...' She turned her head, his body coming into her line of vision. It was superimposed by shots of him glaring at her, calling her names...

'Dead...' fighting along side her against those mist chunins...

Protecting her from harm. 'Dead...'

At the shift in the air, Haku tensed as the blonde slowly rose to her feet. 'Impossible... She shouldn't be able to move...'

"You tell me to take comfort in his death..." Her voice was deceptively quiet, so much that Haku almost had to strain to hear. "I cannot... I will not..." She clenched her hands at her sides. "I hated Sasuke, but he was my teammate... my friend... You took away one of my precious people... You took away somethng that was mine..." Oblivious to her, red chakra began forming in the air, licking around her like flames.

Haku was not so lucky. He took a step back in apprehension at the crimson eyes staring at him. They were not like the Sharingan eyes, they were darker, slanted like a cat's and filled with murderous intent.

"And for that... " Her lips curled in a feral grin. "You die."

oooo

The two jounin halted their attacks towards each other at the sudden rush of foreign chakra filling the air. It was so sudden, so powerful...

'What is this...' Zabuza's eyes narrowed. 'This foul chakra...?' He'd never felt anything like it. Turning to Kakashi, he scowled in confusion. "Is this your doing, Kakashi?"

The Leaf Jounin didn't answer, trying to reign in the feeling of fear at the familiarity of the chakra charging the air. There was no forgetting chakra like that - especially when the last time he'd experienced it had spelled the death of the last person he'd ever held dear. 'But that's impossible...' Both regular and Sharingan eyes widened in horror. 'The seal couldn't have broken could it... Naruto...?!'

oooo

She sat up slowly, staring around her in confusion. All around her was darkness. 'What... what is this...?'

~ THIS IS HELL. ~

She didn't recognize the voice, but before she could ask an image of Sasuke's body appeared before her eyes, cold and unresponsive. Her eyes widened in remembrance. "He's gone... he's really gone..."

~ SHOULD YOU NOT BE GLAD? YOU HATED HIM...~

"Of course I hated him! He was a jerk!" She clenched her fists, staring out into the darkness. "But he was my teammate... and I promised Sakura-chan that I'd help him. I told Inari that I'd protect everyone!"

Sasuke's body was replaced by the mist nin who took his life. ~ HE KILLED YOUR TEAMMATE. HE TRIES TO KILL YOU. HE TRIES TO TAKE WHAT IS YURS...~

Naruto closed her eyes, opening them once again to reveal they were red and slitted. "...take what is mine..."

Suddenly she was back at the bridge, facing down the mist ninja... the one who had killed her teammate. She would make him pay.

Haku tensed, watching the young blonde before him. What was this... this power that seemed to radiate from the girl. He watched as the chakra pooling around her - chakra was not supposed to be red, nor visible! - changed her form. Her injuries healed, her nails and teeth elongated slightly, the whisker-like scars becoming more pronounced on her round face; it was like the cute girl he had befriended was vanishing right before his eyes. 'This... this transformation... I must put a stop to it!'

And what then...? It wasn't as if things could go back to normal between them - if you could even consider what they'd been normal...

~ "You are, too, y'know. You've got your precious person and now you've got me, too!" ~

Shaking his head, Haku drew another handful of senbon and hurled it at the girl. She held her ground, letting out an animalistic roar that knocked the projectiles away with an invisible wall of sound. "Such awesome power..."

The blonde vanished from sight, appearing before him to shatter the mirror he had tried to hide in.

"She was strong before..." He dodged a swipe of her claws, sliding backwards a few feet. "but not like this..." Was this her power? Was this what set her apart from others and made her an outcast? He began forming seals at a rapid speed. "Hyoton: Shi no Kakera!" Sharp spears of ice rose out of the ground, hovering over his head. With a flick of his hand, they sped towards Naruto.

She avoided them easily, continuing towards him as if nothing were amiss. Her hands were poised to strike. "DIE!"

'I can't... I can't stop her...!' Haku backed up towards his remaining mirrors, arms raised to block the strike intended for him. However, Naruto slipped under his guard, her smaller hands clenching to land a fist directly to his face that sent him crashing through his own mirror. He flew backwards through the air, his porcelain mask falling away as he hit the ground.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Naruto shrieked, rushing towards him with murder in her eyes. Her movements stilled, however, at the face that lay beneath his mask. Her slitted eyes widened in surprise. "N-neechan..."

Haku sat up slowly, his body screaming in pain. Being shoved through a wall of chakra enforced ice would do that to you, he supposed. "My name..." he gasped out. "Is Haku-"

Their brief kiss came to mind suddenly, and then the blonde was suddenly in front of him, his kimono grasped in her clawed hands. "This whole time- you knew this whole time?!"

"I had... my mission..." he gasped. "As you did had yours..." He paused, wincing in pain. "That's why... I didn't want you to come..."

She snarled at him. "Why? Because I'd be an obstacle in your master's way?!"

'Because I don't want to hurt you...' "I have to protect my master's dream... I am his tool..." 'And because you are... my friend...'

"His tool?" Her eyes were so sharp, like ice. "What kind of bastard would treat you like just a thing?"

Haku gazed up at her. "All shinobi are tools..." He paused, glancing around at the damage wraught by their fight. Almost all of his mirrors had been completely. "And now I am a broken one..."

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped. "Sasuke is dead because of you!"

"Then kill me."

The youki faded slightly as she blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Kill me," Haku saidly simply. "Take vengeance for your fallen teammate."

The blonde released him, backing away from him slowly. "No... no!"

"You were ready to do so before," Brown eyes gazed at her sadly. "What changed...?"

"I didn't know it was you! You are..." Her eyes wavered. "I thought you were my friend..."

Haku's eyes saddened further. "A friend that betrayed you."

"Shut up. Don't say that."

"It's true." He glanced away. "I befriended you, knowing all the while who you were and what I would have to-"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto knocked him to the ground with another punch to the face. She pounced on him, landing punch after punch, pouring all her anger, sadness, and frustration into each blow. "Shut up, shut up, shut-" Stilling her hand, she dropped down on top of him, clenching at his robes.

Haku was surprised, and even more so at the moisture he felt against his neck. 'Naruto...'

"You said..." Her voice was muffled, but he could still hear her quite clearly. "You said you knew what it was like... You said we were alike..."

"We are." She looked into his eyes, confused. "You said that you didn't know what would have become of you had it not been for your Iruka-sensei... and the kindness he showed you. He acknowledged you... gave you a purpose..." He closed his eyes. "For me, Zabuza-sama was that person. He took me in, knowing what I was. He stayed with me, cared for me... I vowed that I would do whatever I could to repay him... He was my one and only precious person..." He opened his eyes, staring at Naruto. "Until I met you."

She stared at him in surprise.

"I never thought that I would meet another person who understood... who shared my pain..." He smiled. "Talking with you also made me happy... but I was sad at the same time knowing what I would have to do..."

"Haku..."

"You are a very strong ninja, Naruto... I don't regret losing to you," His gaze lifted skyward. "But I cannot continue on knowing that I have failed the most important person in my life. He has depended on me, and I have broken my promise. I have no choice but to suffer the consequences." He gently pushed Naruto back, slowly and painfully rising to his feet.

"Haku...?"

He backed away from her, bowing his head. "You must kill me. Please."

The blonde only stared at him.

Haku drew a kunai from his pouch. "Must I force you?" He pointed to her teammate's body with his blade. "Or will you break your promise to him as we-" There was a brief, sharp feeling of pain and Haku looked down at the trembling blonde head in front of him. He closed his eyes, smiling. "Thank you, Naruto..."

It took her a few seconds to process what she had done. She stared at her hands before bringing wide blue eyes back up to his face. "Haku... Haku!"

"It's all right," he gasped, staggering. "I-" He paused, turning his head to where Kakashi and Zabuza still fought. Struggling to raise his arms, he formed his hands into a transportation jutsu, vanishing from sight.

"Haku?!" Naruto stared at where he had once been. "HAKU!"

oooo

Kakashi had thrown caution to the wind, deciding to take the incapacitated mist nin out quickly so that he could see to his students. 'If it's not already too late...' Chakra crackling loudly in his hand, he charged towards Zabuza only to have his way blocked at the last possible second. His chidori plunged into the younger nin's face, causing everyone present to freeze in shock.

Zabuza recovered first, laughing out loud. "Very good, Haku! I knew there was a reason I kept you around!"

Kakashi's eyes were wide in disbelief. 'He sacrificed himself...'

Haku's eyes, though wide with pain, fell on his. "Tell her..." he gasped. "That I'm sorry..." Before he could question him, the boy dropped to the ground, dead.

"Hn," Zabuza glanced at his body, before turning his attention back to Kakashi once more.

The Copy Ninja scowled. "No remorse for your partner's death?"

The swordsman snorted. "Partner? Ha... he was my tool, nothing more. He's served his purpose."

"And so have you." Gatou, flanked by several dozen thugs, bandits, and samurai, smirked haughtily.

Kakashi drew another kunai from his pouch. 'Damn it...'

* * *

End Chapter 6


	8. Chapter 07

Chapter 7

The situation was rapidly going down hill. Granted, Gatou's men were hardly anything to be worried about individually, but with his rapidly dwindling chakra their numbers alone would prove them to be a difficult task to handle. 'Sakura needs to stay with Tazuna and keep him safe... I can't sense Sasuke anymore and Naruto...' He could still feel the Kyuubi's chakra lurking in the air, keeping his senses on edge. He had to finish this fight quickly before the seal weakened any further. 'But first...'

Gatou snorted as his eyes fell on the figure of the his hired ninja. He was a wreck - both his arms were bleeding and limp at his sides and his freakishly large sword was who knows where. That spiky haired ninja from Leaf had certainly put him through the wringer. Despite his frustration at yet another failure, he grinned at how the mighty had fallen. "Look at you... you're a mess!" Zabuza narrowed his eyes at him, but for once he felt no fear. What could he do anyway? "You can't even handle four little ninja from Konoha? You're pathetic! I don't know why I even bothered wasting my time with you." He tapped his cane on the ground. "S'matter of fact, consider our contract cancelled."

The mist ninja scowled. "What?!"

"That's right!" Gatou sneered. "I don't need your anymore. My boys here can handle one old man and some punk kids." The large group of thugs and henchmen flanking him on both sides laughed uproariously, brandishing their myriad assortment of weapons. Feeling bold, the old man walked forward a few paces, surveying the battlefield. The two of them certainly had done a lot of damage. His eye caught the body laying off to the side and he smirked, recognizing it as Haku. "So, the kid bought the big one, eh? Good riddance to bad rubbish I say," He paused, taking in the boy's features. "Although, I never thought that's what the brat looked like under that ridiculous mask... A pretty little face like that could have been useful-"

There was a flash of movement and Gatou looked up to see Zabuza rushing over towards him with a kunai in hand. He screamed in surprise, ducking behind his men's ranks for protection. "S-stop him!"

One of his men fired his crossbow, hitting the ninja dead on but he kept on. He slashed through them left and right, intent on reaching his target.

As the samurai in front of him fell under Zabuza's last strike, Gatou let out a shriek of fright. "Impossible! You...!" His injuries were so numerous and yet he was still standing?! Gatou's eyes widened in terror at the murderous look in the nukenin's eyes. "I thought..."

The swordsman chuckled darkly. "Not so pathetic now, am I, Gatou?"

The old man backed up a step, only to whimper in fear as the ninja followed him. "Zabuza... Zabuza... can't we work somethin' out?! I'll pay you! I'll double what I promised you before! Anything you want! Name it!"

"Anything?" Gatou nodded, but before he could speak, Zabuza drove his kunai into his heart. The surrounding henchman gasped. The old man's face whitened in shock and pain. Zabuza laughed darkly. "I've been wanting to do that ever since I met you."

The tycoon gurgled and dropped to the ground.

For a few moments there was only silence.

"Oi, Kakashi," The Leaf Jounin looked up at him, his expression blank. "Our quarrel is finished. You're free to do as you please."

The mist nin's eyes fell on the body of his subordinate's briefly, and the Copy Ninja nodded and pulled down his hitai-ate. "I understand,"

The surrounding thugs milled around their employer's body helplessly a few moments before turning their attention back to the two ninja.

"What? You think this is over?" one yelled. "You just killed the guy who pays us!"

Zabuza snorted, turned and began to walk away.

"Don't you turn away from us!" a chain-wielding thug screamed. "You think you're just gonna get away with what you've done!"

Kakashi tensed himself for their retaliation, only to freeze at the second rush of demonic energy sweeping over the bridge. He turned towards the small blonde slowly walking towards them, her eyes glowing an eerie red.

She took in the sight of the henchmen, scowling with disdain. "And you think you have what it takes to stop me?"

The Copy Ninja's eye widened. He could tell that even now the seal was intact, but... 'She's still drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra... but how? How did the seal weaken? Did the fox somehow gain control?' He stared at her eyes, looking for some sign of the hyperactive kunoichi he remembered. He saw only rage, and soul-crushing despair. 'Naruto... what happened...?'

"Well?" No one moved. Even with their minimal skill, the thugs realized the danger that lay in facing down the small genin. She scowled, drawing her hands into a cross seal. Without uttering a word, several Kage Bunshin appeared around her. They all bared their fangs with a hiss. "Are you all scared of me?"

Those that remained of Gatou's henchman turned and fled.

'Well, that solves one problem...' Kakashi thought.

Naruto whipped her head around towards Zabuza, who was slowly limping his way towards Haku's body. "Stay away from him!" she snarled.

"Naruto, wait!" Kakashi moved to block her, but she hissed at him, causing him to step back in surprise. The fury in her eyes was so deep, but the other emotion present really put the battle hardened Jounin on edge. The type of despair present in her blue depths was so sharp, so painful... he knew it could have come from only one thing - the deep-felt loss of someone close to you. Kakashi knew that feeling all too well. He gazed at the still mist-ninja laying on the cold ground. He recalled the blonde's happiness as she spoke of her mystery friend. 'So Haku *was* her mystery friend...' He paused, a knot forming in his stomach. 'But what happened to Sasuke?'

His thoughts were cut off by a yowl of outrage. His eyes shot upward at the sight of the blonde slowly advances towards the two Kirigakure ninja. "How dare you! How dare you go to him after how you treated him!" Her body trembled in rage as she stared down the larger mist nin. "He died because of you! All because he felt some sick need to please you! He would have done anything for you! Anything at all! And you didn't eve-" She paused as he knelt down, cradling the younger boy's body in his battered arms.

"Reign in your wildcat, Kakashi," the mist ninja muttered. "She talks too damn much..."

Kakashi cringed. 'Yeah... how about we not antagonize the youki-charged kunoichi...'

Zabuza closed his eyes. "At least let this wicked man die in peace..."

"You're dying...?" That brought Naruto up short, forcing her to take in the extent of his injuries. How he had managed to stay standing before now was a wonder in itself. Slowly, the anger raging within her began to recede.

"I can't follow to wherever it is he's gone to..." Naruto watched as his larger hand brushed the stray hair out of the younger boy's face. "But at least I can share this last moment with him..."

Eyes still tinged with demonic aura widened in astonishment. "You did care about him..."

"The bloodline he carried within him was feared in his homeland along with all those who possessed it. Haku's mother carried the gene and passed it on to him... she was murdered right before his eyes," Both Naruto and Kakashi started in surprise. There was bitterness in the mist ninja's words as he continued, "Despite the life he had lived, the boy was still so kind... his heart was too soft... but he vowed to become my tool, to do whatever I asked of him. He became a ninja, a killer who carried out my will... even when his heart died a little every day."

Naruto stared at Haku's body, his face stilled by death, remembering all the words he had spoken to her.

~ "It is painful to lose someone precious to you... However, such is the life of the shinobi..." ~

~ "I have to protect my master's dream... I am his tool..." ~

~ "I vowed that I would do whatever I could to repay him... He was my one and only precious person... Until I met you." ~

"Haku..." The last vestiges of youki faded from her chakra, and her eyes became a sorrowful electric blue.

"It was you..." Zabuza stared at her, causing her to flinch guiltily. Her eyes went to the kunai imbedded hilt deep just beneath his rib cage. Kakashi followed her gaze, his eye softening in understanding. "Something in him had changed...I noticed it not too long ago... He was... happy..." He paused, staring at the peaceful smile on the boy's face. "I've never seen such a look on him before... you put it there, didn't you?"

She looked away, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. "I thought..." She remembered his smile and the peace she had felt in his company. She also remembered the kiss. No one had ever given her one like it before... He'd been so gentle with her; it was almost as if he really... She tensed, closing her eyes painfully. "He and I were so much alike... I wanted us to be friends..."

"Friends, huh..." Zabuza snorted, but there was hardly any spite behind it. His eyes were slowly drooping. "He probably would've liked that."

"You were his friend," Naruto stared down the missing nin, daring him to deny it. He didn't say a word. "You were his most precious person... That's how I know," She paused, her eyes wavering briefly before she spoke again. "That's how I know you two'll find each other again..."

Letting out a sigh, Zabuza slowly closed his eyes.

He didn't open them again.

oooo

After much prodding and encouragement from Tazuna, Sakura lead them through the rapidly diminishing mist in search of her comrades. She could tell the fight had been terrifying judging by the amount of damage done to the bridge. She was about to apologize for setting back the old bridge builder's work schedule, but her words died in her throat at the sight that lay before her.

Tears brimmed her green eyes as they widened in shock. "SASUKE-KUN!"

Hearing her cry, Kakashi and Naruto rushed in her direction. Upon nearing her, they found her kneeling on the ground over Sasuke's body, trembling slightly. Tazuna stood helplessly off to the side.

Kakashi stilled, clenching his fists at his sides. 'Was I too late again...?'

Naruto ventured closer to Sakura, her hands fisted into the material of her jacket. "Sakura..." She paused, trying to keep her voice from breaking. She tried not too look at the body in her arms. "I'm... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry I broke my promise..."

Sakura paused, sitting up to turn back at look at her. "Huh...?" Her eyes were red from crying.

"I let you down..." Naruto looked down, biting her lip hard. "I wasn't able to protect him... I-"

A tired voice from Sakura's lap broke off the rest of her words. "Who said... I needed your protection... Do-be?"

There were a few seconds of silence.

Naruto's eyes widened and ran over to the other side of Sakura to stare at the dark haired boy giving her a half-hearted surly glare. "You mean... you're alive?!"

Sasuke only snorted, as if to say 'Duh!'.

Kakashi let out a relieved chuckle.

Smiling up at the blonde, Sakura nodded before explaining. "It was just like it was with Zabuza before," she said. "That other ninja only pretended to hit the vitals... instead he hit certain pressure points to make it seem like he had killed Sasuke-kun."

The blood slowly drained from Naruto's face.

Frowning in confusion, Sasuke started to sit up only to be gently pushed back by Sakura. Too drained to argue, he stayed where he was. It wasn't as if he was comfortable where he was or anything... He stared at the stricken look on the blonde's face. "What happened to him?" he asked, his frown deepening when her expression only seemed to worsen. His eyes darkened. "He's dead isn't he?"

Sakura let out a quiet gasp when Naruto only nodded.

"So..." Tazuna said gruffly. "What now...?"

"Heeeeey, you guys!"

Everyone started in surprise, taking in the spectacle approaching them. All the people from the village, lead by Inari and his mother, made their way towards them. They were all armed with pots, pans, pitchforks, anything one could use as a weapon. It looked as though they had been prepared to battle as well.

"Inari-kun," Naruto blinked despite herself, taking note of the collander the boy donned on his head as a helmet. "What're you doing here?"

"Whaddya mean?" He held up the crossbow he'd been toting along with him. Just where the heck had he gotten that from?! "We all came to help! It's our village you all are fighting for!" Several villagers chorused in agreement.

"Inari..." There was pride in the old bridge builder's voice.

Tsunami smiled, but then paused to survey the area. "Um, what happened?"

"Well..." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head absently. "The fight's already over."

"Whaaaa? You mean we missed it?" A pout formed on Inari's face. "But the hero's s'posed to show up just in the knick of time to save the da- uh?"

Naruto walked towards him, enveloping the smaller boy in a light hug. "You did, Inari-kun," she murmured. "Just in the knick of time..." She grinned softly at the boy's flustered expression before everything faded to black.

"Naruto...? NARUTO!"

oooo

She couldn't see. She was surrounding in darkness once again.

"I killed him..." Memories of the fight flashed in her mind. "I killed Haku..."

~ HE ATTACKED YOU... TRIED TO TAKE AWAY WHAT IS YOURS... HE WAS AN ENEMY ~

Naruto closed her eyes and shook her head. "No..." She remembered Haku's smile. "He was a friend..."

oooo

"Okay, bend your arm once more like that... then that way..." Sakura studied his arm with a critical eye. "Any pain... any pinched nerves...?"

"No, Sakura... I told you, I'm fine..." Sasuke tried to keep the pink tint from his cheeks at all Sakura's mother-henning. Though a small part of him liked the attention she was giving him so long as it wasn't fanatical. 'Not like she'll ever hear that from me, of course...'

Giving him a studying look, Sakura decided she believed him and stood up, brushing imaginary dust from her hands. "All right then, I guess I'll leave you alone then." Sasuke rolled his eyes and set about removing the bandages adorning his arms and legs. "But if you feel any sort of discomfort, you let me know okay?" The only reply she received was a grunt.

Head buried deep within his beloved porn, Kakashi fought hard not to laugh. And people wondered why he hated hospitals...

"Well, now that's Sasuke-kun's done, let's have a look at Narut-" Sakura paused, looking around for her female teammate. A pointed finger from behind a little orange book directed her gaze towards the window. There the blonde sat perched outside on the ledge, blue eyes gazing out at the water. Sakura's eyes darkened in worry. She'd been like that ever since regaining consciousness. "Is she all right? She's been like that for days now... What happened?"

Kakashi paused, glancing up from his book. "She's probably trying to come to grips with what happened on the bridge."

"With that boy... Haku?" Sakura asked.

He nodded. "I think he was the boy she befriended earlier... only to have to face each other in combat..."

"So..." Sasuke glanced at the blonde in the window. "Naruto killed Haku?"

The jounin didn't answer at first, remembering the kunai just below the damage wraught by his Chidori. 'If he hadn't stepped in to save Zabuza that, along with all his other injuries probably would have done him in...' He closed his eye. 'You realize that, too, don't you, Naru...?'

Realizing the answer for himself, the Uchiha frowned.

oooo

After staying a few more days to recuperate, the time finally came for Team 7 to return to Konoha. All of the villagers met them at the bridge to wish them well, thanking them for all their assistance.

"Even though you wrecked half of it tryin' to save it," Tazuna joked with a smirk. "We wouldn't even be alive probably if it weren't for you all.. so thank you. Thank you so much."

"We were happy to help," Kakashi said with an eye grin. "Although next time, leave the deception to us ninjas."

The old man laughed out loud before turning to the blonde of their group. His expression softened a moment before morphing into a haughty smirk. "I guess I was wrong about you Leaf Ninja... you're a helluva lot tougher than I thought..." He reached over and ruffled her hair, causing her to gawk in surprise. "'Specially you, Blondie..."

"Of course I am, ya old geezer!" she exclaimed, "I'm gonna be Hokage someday, after all!"

Beside her, Kakashi smiled, hearing some of her old spirit in her tone . 'It's good to see she's doing better...' he thought to himself. 'I guess, all she needs is just a little time...'

Tsunami smiled at the pair's antics before glancing down at her son. She gave him an encouraging nudge. "Go on, honey..."

Flustered and embarrassed, he shuffled forward until he was in front of Naruto. The blonde paused and blinked down at him. "You'll come back, won't you?" he muttered. "We're... gonna miss you."

She was silent a few moments before a sunny grin broke across her face. "'Course I will! An' I'll be even tougher than I am now! Believe it!" She gave him a thumbs up. "You'll hafta look after the place 'til then, though. Can ya do that, Inari-kun?"

He laughed and nodded. "You bet, Naru-niichan!"

"Neechan." He and several of the other villagers blinked in confusion. Naruto's grin widened. "I'm a girl!" She gave them all a jaunty way as she and her teammates began their trek across the bridge.

Watching them go, Inari's face rivaled that of a tomato.

As they walked away, Sakura groaned. "You get some sorta sick thrill outta doin' that, don't you?"

Naruto blinked innocently. "What do you mean, Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi grinned and Sasuke grunted.

oooo

Tazuna shook his head, laughing heartily. "That kid... she's somethin' else all right,"

"Yeah," one of the villagers nodded in agreement. "Heck, she saved our lives and helped build our bridge with her own two hands,"

"Speaking of which," said another. "Have you thought of a name for it yet?"

"The Bridge of Dreams!"

"Too corny."

"The Bridge Where Titans clashed and Dreams were born!"

"Too long!"

"Well, it's gotta have a name!"

"The Great Uzumaki Bridge." Everyone turned back to Tazuna. "For the girl who came in like a whirlwind and set everything right again." He grinned. "That way, everyone will remember that this was her first step towards becoming something great."

Tsunami nodded, resting a hand on her father's arm. "It's perfect." Inari nodded in agreement.

The old builder nodded his head thoughtfully. The Great Uzumaki Bridge, it was. "Hokage she says..." He chuckled. "Hell, who knows, she just might do it!"

oooo

Meanwhile...

"Achoo!"

"Watch where you sneeze, Dobe."

"Shut up, teme! Somebody must be talkin' 'bout me!"

"Hn... who'd waste their breath talking about you?"

"You wanna say that to my face?"

"Naruto! Stop bothering Sasuke-kun!"

Kakashi sighed, burying his head into his porn. It was going to be a loooong trip.

End Chapter 7


	9. Chapter 08

Chapter 8

* * *

To say the Hokage had been surprised to learn how Team 7's mission had turned out would be an understatement. After all, how often was it that a simple C Rank mission got so rapidly out of hand. One Jounin and three rookie Genin going up against Kirigakure nukenin and an entire criminal organization? It was unheard of! Kakashi had been quick to reassure him that his students had handled themselves well, going above and beyond the call of duty to successfully complete the mission. The old ninja had been pleased, if not still a little concerned, but as a reward for their success he reassigned the mission A rank status and pay. All's well that end's well, right? Umino Iruka had been disinclined to agree. In fact, once learning of the ordeal his ex-students had been forced to undertake, Naruto especially, the Chunin Instructor had threatened to burn his porn collection if he ever put his students in such a situation again. The one eyed Jounin was led to believe that the scarred ninja remained a Chunin by choice; the killing intent he had put into his declaration had been quite impressive.

'Heh... Geez, what a Mother Hen...'

There was nothing to be done about it now, really. Everyone was home safe and sound. 'Although... given that they managed to perform so well under the circumstances,' He glanced skyward, noting the hawk slowly circling overhead. The Hokage was calling a meeting at the tower. Beneath his mask, Kakashi grinned. 'Maybe it's time I upped the ante...'

Turning in the opposite direction of the Hokage Tower, the droopy-eyed ninja went off in search of his students. He could kill a few hours spying on them before reporting in. 'After all, what kind of sensei would I be if my students didn't come first?'

Icha Icha in hand, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

oooo

Sakura walked through the village in a fog, her mind recounting the events of their past mission in Nami no Kuni. They'd come so close to dying, and yet some how they managed to come out of it on top. 'Well... for the most part anyway...' She remembered the funk her blonde haired teammate had seemed to fall into after learning the ninja she had faced was the boy she had befriended in the forest earlier. And yet she'd defeated him in combat. Her green eyes darkened when her thoughts shifted to her fellow kunoichi. The blonde had been the Dead Last of their graduating class, and yet she'd displayed such amazing skill. She'd always behaved so obnoxiously, so carefree, and yet she'd been so heartbroken after their fight. Of course, she seemed to be doing much better now, but it had Sakura wondering...

"Which is the real you..." Sakura wondered aloud. "...Naruto?"

"Huh, Sakura-chan?"

The pink haired kunoichi tensed, whirling around to find the subject of her thoughts standing behind her with a curious expression on her face. She blushed in embarrassment. "Naruto...?"

The blonde cocked her head to the side, studying her. "What's with the face?" she asked. "What're you thinking about?"

"You." She blinked in surprise. "Are you all right...? You know... after everything..."

"I talked to Iruka-sensei," the blonde explained, smiling lightly. "So I feel a lot better now..."

Sakura paused, looking down. "You could have tried talking to us you know," The blonde blinked again. "We're teammates after all."

"I know that, Sakura-chan..."

"Do you?" She stared at her intensely. "Ever since we found out your secret," The blonde tensed for a brief moment before her face went blank. "It's like you can't decide how to act around us! One minute you're all serious and then the next you're acting like a goofball again! Why can't you be real around us?"

Naruto sighed, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. "Do you really want me to be, Sakura-chan?" she asked. "It seems like you guys get along with the goofball Dobe better... Sasuke does anyway..."

The Haruno girl frowned. "But Naruto..." She sighed heavily. "I can't really speak for Sasuke-kun, but for me... it's confusing, y'know? One minute you're bouncing around pestering me about ramen dates and then the next thing I know, you're telling us you're a girl..."

The blonde blinked a little bit before laughing out loud. "*That's* what's bothering you?"

Sakura frowned. "Well, how would you feel if you found out another girl had a crush on you?"

"A crush?" She scratched her head. "You thought I had a crush on you?"

"You call me Sakura-chan and ask me to hang out with you..."

"Well, that's cuz I like you!" Naruto grinned.

"But I like Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed.

Her grin widened. "Well, nobody's perfect." She quailed under the 'Glare of Doom' being turned her way before deciding it was in her best interest to explain herself further. "Look, Sakura-cham, all I really wanted was to be your friend."

Sakura lowered her clenched fists, blinking in surprise. "Really?" The blonde nodded. "Why?"

"Why not? You're really smart and really nice... most of the time."

'Most of the time...?'

The blonde was still going. "Besides, you've always been kinda my role model."

"Really?" Naruto nodded, and Sakura felt a stab of guilt.

The blonde remained oblivious. "And since we're teammates, it only makes more sense right?" Sakura nodded in uncertainty. Grinning, the blonde leaned forward conspiratorially. "Besides, it's not like we're fighting over that Teme or anything."

Sakura bopped her over the head half-heartedly, earning a laugh from the blonde. "Don't call him that..."

"I'll stop calling him a teme when he stops calling me a dobe," Naruto sniffed. "In any case, I gotta get going." She grinned at her fellow kunoichi once again. "But think about what I said, 'kay?" The pink haired kunoichi nodded absently. Her grin widening, Naruto turned and ran off, waving over her shoulder. "See ya later, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura remained silent, their conversation rattling along with all the other thoughts concerning the blonde in her brain. 'Friends...' She watched as the blonde vanished into the crowd. 'With Naruto...'

~ "Besides, you've always been kinda my role model." ~

Naruto looked up to her? Even when it was her that had displayed so much strength and skill?

'Maybe it's me who should be looking up to you...' she thought to herself. 'After all, you're the one who managed to get a kiss from Sasuke-kun...' She paused, her words catching up to her. "NARUTOOOOO!"

oooo

Oblivious to her teammate's consteration, Naruto continued down the street. She ignored the stares and glares directed her way as usual, an absent-minded fox grin on her face. She couldn't let the people bother her now, after all. She had promised to protect everyone, so she had to get stronger.

'I'm gonna see my dream through all the way to the end,' she promised herself. 'Just you watch me, Haku...'

"BOOSSSSSS!"

Naruto's thoughts were derailed as a small warm weight settled itself on her back, wrapping tiny arms around her neck. She tensed at first, but recognizing the presence, she turned an annnoyed eye to her passenger. "Ko-no-ha-ma-ruuuu!" The small boy grinned at her, and she resisted the urge to groan. Ever since she'd first encountered him at the Hokage Tower when she became a Genin, the boy had declared her his rival. He hadn't left her alone since.

Another small child, a red headed girl named with rosy cheeks grasped her arm in a hug. "We missed you, Boss!" she squealed.

"Yeah!" a third child with glasses, and an asthma problem, grasped her other hand.

'Ah, Moegi and Udon, too...' All three of them made of the Konohamaru Corps., and together they were determined to make the poor girl's life more of a hastle than it already was. It was too bad she couldn't beat them up like she knew they deserved - they were kind of cute.

Konohamaru, from his position on her back, grinned mischievously. "How was your mission, Boss? A success right?"

She didn't answer immediately, remembering Haku's face once more.

As if sensing her distress, Udon looked up at her. "What's the matter, Boss?" he snuffled.

Shaking her head, she forced a rueful grin to her face. Mock-glaring at the boy on her back she replied, "You're heavy, that's what!" Konohamaru stuck out his tongue. "Don't you know better than to attack super cool ninja like me in the middle of the street?" She paused, feigning a look of superiority. "You could get mistaken for an enemy!"

The Hokage's grandson looked at her in awe before grinning. "That's my rival! Always on the alert!"

Moegi giggled, turning the blonde's attention to her. "We haven't seen you in weeks, Boss!" she exclaimed, giving her the Super Puppy-Dog Eyes. "Won't you play Ninja with us?"

Naruto's eye twitched slightly.

"We've been training while you were gone, Boss," Konohamaru exclaimed haughtily. "By now we're probably tough enough to defeat you!"

"Say what!" The blonde genin stopped and grabbed at the boy only to have him jump down and run off. "Get back here, brat!"

He blew a raspberry at her, laughing as he ran. "Can't catch me, Boss! Can't catch me-oof!" Colliding with something hard, he lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thump.

An older boy dressed all in black from head to toe turned and glared at him. "Hey, watch where you're going!" he growled, his makeup covered face darkening in annoyance.

"Uh... sorry..." Konohamaru quailed, backing away slowly.

The boy in black reached for him, hauling him up by his scarf. "Too bad, kid... that ain't good enough..."

A blonde girl stood beside him, narrowing her eyes in distaste. "Kankurou," she said in a warning tone.

"What? I'm just gonna have a little fun with him!" She scoffed, looking away as if to say 'I'll have no part in this'.

"Konohamaru-kun!" Udon and Moegi called out, taking in the situation their leader had landed himself into.

Naruto stepped in front of them, staring down the black-garbed ninja with steely blue eyes. "Put him down!" she demanded.

The older boy, Kankurou, gave her a once over before snorting. "This ain't none of your business, kid." he said. "It's between me an' this brat here." He gave Konohamaru a little shake, causing him to whimper in fear.

"That brat's a friend of mine," Naruto insisted. "So I'm makin' it my business anyway."

Despite the danger he knew he was in, Konohamaru let out an exasperated moan. "Bosss..." he whined. "Do ya hafta insult me like that!"

"Hush up, I'm trying to rescue you!"

"Rescue him?" Kankurou laughed out loud. "Psh... then who's gonna rescue you?" He reached into his weapons' pouch, drawing a kunai into his hand. Before he could make a move, however, his arm was suddenly pinned behind him by the small blonde, his own kunai lightly piercing the base of his neck.

The other blonde girl beside him, his older sister and teammate Temari, tensed in surprise. "What...?"

"Holy crap!" Kankurou exclaimed.

Despite their height difference, Naruto kept her grip. Out of the corner of his eye Kankurou could see the seriousness of her gaze. "Let go of him..." she hissed. "I doubt the Hokage's grandson appreciates being roughed up by the likes of you."

'The Hokage's grandson...?' Temari narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Do as he says, Kankurou," she snapped.

The boy relented, loosening his grip so that Konohamaru dropped to the ground with a unceremonious thump. Once the boy scrambled away to safety, Naruto released her grip on his arm. Smirking, Kankurou moved to turn his kunai on her only to have it knocked out of his hand with a small rock. "Ow! What the-!" He glanced around, glaring in anger. "Who threw that!"

Naruto looked around, her eyes landing on her male teammate perched in a nearby tree. He glanced at her briefly before turning his gaze back to Kankurou once more. Another rock was tossed up and down casually in his hand. "You assault the Hokage's grandson, and then threaten to attack one of this village's ninja," He paused, a smirk forming on his face. "For a foreign ninja, you sure aren't too smart..."

Temari gave him an appreciative look before turning to her fellow blonde. "You're teammate, huh? Lucky you."

Naruto just rolled her eyes.

Kankurou scowled. Just who did this punk kid think he was? "You think I'm scared of you?" He reached for the large bundle strapped to his back. "I'll show you just what I'm capable of."

Naruto and Sasuke tensed and brace themselves for the upcoming attack.

"Enough." Sasuke turned to the foreign voice, starting in surprise at the sudden presence of another ninja in the tree beside him. He stood upside down on an adjacent branch, short red hair and teal eyes contrasting against his pale skin. He didnt' acknowledge Sasuke, keeping his cold glare on Kankurou below. "You're embarrassing us, Kankurou."

"G-gaara..." Both he and Temari quailed under his gaze, backing up a step.

Naruto studied them in confusion. 'They're afraid of him...?'

Sasuke's thoughts were along a similar vein. He studied the red ninja as he vanished from the tree in a swirl of sand, rematerializing on the ground. Like the other two, he carried a large object on his back... a gourd of some sorts. Were they teammates? Despite being the smallest of the three, he certainly looked to be the strongest. 'This kid... I didn't even sense his presence... Just who is he?'

Kankurou stared at Gaara, holding his hands up in surrender under his cold stare. "Sorry, Gaara... I was just messing around..."

Gaara's face remained impassive. "Attack that girl again," His voice was so soft, yet deadly. "I will not hesitate to kill you."

Both he and Temari reacted as if struck.

From his position beside Moegi and Udon, Konohamaru let out a gasp of outrage. "Hey, I'm not a girl-!"

Naruto bopped him on the head. "Shut it, Konohamaru!"

Jumping down from his perch, Sasuke glared at the three foreign ninja. Their hitai-ate displayed the shape of an hourglass - they were from Suna? "Hey," All three ninja turned. "Who are you?"

"Who me?" Temari questioned, blushing lightly.

"No, him with the gourd," Her face fell slightly.

The redhead turned halfway, studying his profile. "Sabaku no Gaara." he answered. "And you?"

This guy was definitely strong. Sasuke smirked. "Uchiha Sasuke."

"And he's Uzumaki Naruto!" Konohamaru exclaimed, pointing at the blonde beside him. He earned another bop on the head.

"Shut UP, Konohamaru!"

Luckily, their antics were ignored by the two ninja currently staring each other down. "What's you're business here in Konohagakure," Sasuke questioned. "You're not allowed here without express permission."

Gaara didn't respond.

"We have permission," Temari smirked, drawing out their passport papers. "We're legit - we're here to participate in the Chunin Exams."

"Chunin exams?"

"You mean you don't know about them?" The Suna kunoichi's smirk widened. "Your village is hosting it, y'know."

Sasuke's expression turned thoughtful. 'Is that so...'

oooo

Sarutobi glanced at the window before turning his attention back to the jounin assembled in the room. "I imagine shinobi from the various Ninja villages participating in the Exams have already begun to arrive,"

"That's correct, Hokage-sama," an administrative chunin answered. "Their accomadations are being seen to as we speak."

"Excellent," the Sandaime nodded. "It is at this time I would like those Jounin who wish to nominate their students to participate to please step forward."

Several Jounin did so, among them Yuuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and... Hatake Kakashi.

There were murmurs from all the other ninja present in the room at the turn of events. All three Rookie teams? It was unheard of!

The Sandaime only smiled thoughtfully.

oooo

As the Sand ninja took their leave, Udon let out a sigh of relief. "Wow, that was really close!"

Moegi nodded in agreement, drawing Konohamaru into a tight hug. "Those guys were really scary!" she exclaimed. "I'm so glad you weren't hurt!"

Naruto grinned at the flushed expression on Konohamaru's face before scowling at Sasuke. "What's your deal? Jumping in here and bein' all hero-y?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I could've handled them myself, y'know!"

The Uchiha studied her a few moments in silence. The blonde had risked her life for him, killing someone she considered a friend in order to avenge what she'd believed to be his death. No one had ever done that for him, and he certainly hadn't expected it from the likes of Naruto.

Those who abandoned their teammates were worse than trash, Kakashi had said.

~ "Teammates look after each other,"~ That had been Sakura. ~ "If it's not too much a bother, you can let me look after you, too…" ~

~ "I told you I don't abandon my teammates! And certainly not my friends! So just shut up cuz you're stuck with me!" ~

He wasn't about to tell her his true reasons for tailing her. After all, what would it do for his reputation if he'd admitted to actually being worried about her? So instead, he scoffed and rolled his eyes, earning the predicted growl of annoyance from her. "Whatever," he said, turning away. "Now we're even."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked, watching him walk away. 'What's he talkin' about?'

oooo

Sakura approached the bridge that was Team 7's usual meeting spot, pausing at the tense atmosphere that awaited her. Her teammates sat on opposite railings, doing everything in their power to avoid making any sort of eye contact. Sakura fought the urge to pull at her hair in frustration. She'd seemed to be making headway with the two of them separately, but together... would they ever learn to get along? For show, she folded her arms, giving Naruto an accusing look. "What'd you do now?"

The blonde looked surprised, but then grinned when she caught the teasing tone in her voice. "Nothing, Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi chose that time to appear in a puff of smoke, his arm raised in the usual jaunty wave. "Yo!"

"You're late, Sensei!" Naruto and Sakura chorused.

The Jounin's visible eye creased into a grin. "Ah well, you see, an earthquake hit and I had to avoid all the cracks in the street so that I didn't break my back."

Sasuke snorted.

"LIAR!" Sakura accused, her face red in embarrassment. *THAT'S NOT EVEN HOW THAT SAYING GOES! SHAAAA!*

Naruto laughed, bounding up the the jounin with eager eyes. "We got any missions today, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Nope." Before the blonde could protest, he handed each of his students a small pamphlet. "I just need you each to fill out these,"

Sakura studied the paper in her hands, her eyes widening in recognition. "But Sensei, this is..."

"That's right," Kakashi said. "I've nominated each of you for the Chunin Exam."

"Really!" Naruto exclaimed. He nodded. "All right!"

Even Sasuke looked pleased.

"B-but, Sensei..." Sakura's expression was troubled. "We're only Rookies... we haven't even been genin that long..."

"And yet you've proven that you have what it takes to advance to the next level," Kakashi replied. "The exam begins in one week's time. You have until then to decide." He paused and gave them each a measuring look. "If you're willing to give it a go, bring yourselves along with that form to room 301 of the Administrative building." He hopped up onto the bridge railing, giving them all a little wave. "Well then, see ya later!" He vanished in a poof of smoke.

Sasuke was all-out smirking now.

"Too cool!" Naruto did a little dance. "You hear that, Sakura-chan! We're gonna get to take the Exam! Woohoo!"

Sakura laughed uneasily, keeping her eyes on the form in her hands the whole while.

oooo

Umino Iruka was not a happy chunin. He stared down the Hokage, his displeasure quite plain on his face. "You cannot possibly allow this, Hokage-sama!"

The old man remained unphased. "Why not?" he asked. "Each team had met the neccessary requirements."

"But they're much too young!" Iruka argued. "All nine of them are barely out of the Academy!"

Sandaime nodded. "It is a bit unprecedented, I admit... but each Jounin instructor feels that their students are capable of handling the challenge." He smirked lightly. "I can't recall the last time something like this has happened."

"With all due respect, this isn't a laughing matter, Sandaime-sama!" Iruka exclaimed, his face pinched in worry. "The Chunin Exams can be dangerous! It's too early to be exposing them to something like this - Team 7 especially what with their last mission."

"On the contrary, Iruka," Sarutobi paused, and lit his pipe. "Team 7's experience in Nami gives them an advantage over their fellow rookies... I daresay they may be the best suited for this challenge."

Realizing he wasn't going to be able to sway the old man, Iruka sighed and lowered his head in resignation. "I hope so, sir," he said. "I really do hope so..."

oooo

Sakura sat on her bed, knees hugged closely to her chest. The exam registration form sat propped up on her pillow. Kakashi's words echoed over and over in her head.

~ "...you've proven that you have what it takes to advance to the next level..." ~

Feelings of insecurity and inadequacy washed over her once more. It was true that they'd faced chunin and jounin in Wave, but it had been Naruto and Sasuke who had done much of the fighting. All she'd done was guard Tazuna. She closed her eyes, sighing heavily. 'I know Sasuke-kun can make it... he's so strong and cool... and Naruto has what it takes to do it, too, I'm sure... but me...?' She hugged her knees tighter. 'I'll be left behind...'

"What am I supposed to do?" She stared at the pamphlet, as if expecting it to answer her. Of course, it didn't respond. It remained where it was, almost mocking her. Who could she go to? Certainly not her parents or her sensei. There was only one person she could think of really...

Sakura rose from her seat, climbing out of her open window. She only hoped she remembered where she lived...

oooo

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Naruto sleepy eyed and disoriented, opened her door slowly. "H'lo...?"

A subdued pink haired kunoichi stood at her doorstep. "Hi... Naruto..."

It took several moments for the bed-headed blonde to realize it was Sakura standing on her doorstep, but when she did she blinked in honest surprise. "Sakura-chan? What're you...?"

Sakura flushed, staring at her feet. "Can I... come in?"

The blonde blinked, stepping aside. "Uh, sure..."

Nodding her gratitude, her teammate entered the apartment. Sakura had never been to Naruto's home before, she realized as she studied her surroundings. She knew the layout of Sasuke's apartment by heart - most of his fangirls did - but she was surprised to find that Naruto's looked nothing like she expected it to. It was small and sparesly furnished. A few spare tools and open scrolls lying out on a low coffee table, but surprisingly enough the blonde kept it very neat. Not what she had expected at all.

Naruto grinned uneasily as Sakura awed at the number of potted plants positioned around the room. "I like plants," she said. "They're pretty easy to take care of, and the place isn't so empty looking with them here..."

Sakura nodded silently.

The blonde paused, scratching her head. "Um, would you like anything?" she asked. "I've got tea, I think... Iruka-sensei gave it to me..." Sakura nodded, and for a time there was nothing but the sound of water slowly boiling on the stove. Naruto came back over, studying her teammate carefully. "Is there something the matter, Sakura-chan?" she asked gently. "You couldn't sleep?"

"I was thinking about the Chunin Exam..." Sakura admitted. She stared down at her hands. "I... I don't think I'm going to enter."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Why not?"

Forcing a smile to her face, Sakura met the disbelieving stare of her teammate. "I'm not strong enough..." she explained. "I couldn't help you or Sasuke-kun against Haku..."

"You helped Tazuna-jiji," the blonde protested. "It wouldn't have mattered one bit if we won if something had happened to him. It all would've been for nothing..."

"That's true..."

The kettle whistled and Naruto stepped away to prepare their tea. Setting two cups down at the table where they sat, she poured their tea before staring back at Sakura earnestly. "You shouldn't hafta worry about being on the frontlines, Sakura-chan," she said. "You're still important to the team, no matter what."

Tea cup halfway to her lips, Sakura stared at her in surprise. "How's that?"

She grinned as if the answer were obvious. "You're the brains behind our operation!" Naruto answered. "With Sasuke as the skill and me as the strength, the three of us make up one complete ninja!"

Sakura laughed despite herself. "You're silly," Naruto joined her in her laughter. "But you're pretty smart, too..." Her eyes fell on a book that rested on the table beside her. She picked it up, throwing Naruto a knowing glance. "'Dynamics of Warm Climate Botany'... Naruto-kun... who knew you were such a nerd?"

"I am not!" The blonde flushed in embarrassment, making a weak grab for the book held out of her grasp. "Give that back!"

"Ah, ah, ah! Can't get it! Can't get it!"

"Moouuuu, you're so mean, Neechan!" Sakura froze, causing her to blink in surprise. "Eh?"

Her teammate was staring at the ground again, the earlier jubilance gone. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I am mean, aren't I...?"

Naruto blinked. "No, you were just teasing..."

"But I've been terrible to you before..." Sakura stared up at her, eyes watering. "And yet you still want to be my friend...?"

The blonde blinked before smiling once more. "Of course. Sakura-neechan's my role model." She remembered that day so many years ago... 'It was cuz of you that I decided to become Hokage after all...'

Wiping the tears that had threatened to fall, Sakura smiled at the blonde. She still didn't understand her at all. 'But I'll try... I swear I'll try...' "Then from now on," The blonde gave her a questioning look. "Uzumaki Naru is going to be my rolemodel. I'll focus on becoming stronger, so that we'll all be able to pass the Chunin Exams together!"

"Right!" Naruto nodded and pumped her fist in excitement. "Those other ninja better look out 'cuz Konohagakure's Team 7 is taking no prisoners!"

Sakura nodded, a gentle smile coming to her face as her worry slowly faded away under the assuredness of the blonde's own grin. 'Thank you... Naruto-kun...'

oooo

Kakashi looked up at the sight of his students approaching the Administrative building. Closing his book with an audible snap, he pushed himself off of the wall to meet them.

"So all three of you showed," he murmured once they were all within earshot. "Good."

Naruto studied him with a puzzled look. "Whaddya mean, Sensei?"

"I let you all decided individually if you wanted to take the exam," the Jounin explained. "But had one of you decided not to show, the other two would have been barred from participating."

Sasuke balked. "What?"

"So you're saying all three of us had to go or not at all?" Naruto asked. Kakashi nodded. "Mou... what a sneaky trick, Sensei!"

He grinned. 'I had to do it... I didn't want her to feel pressured into coming if she didn't feel she was ready...'

The subject of his thoughts only laughed, grasping both of her teammates by the arm. "Come on! If we don't hurry, we're gonna be late!"

Sasuke stared at their joined hands, unable to hide his blush as he was pulled towards the building. "Sa-Sakura..."

Naruto let herself be led without any objections, turning back to wave at their sensei as they went. "Bai bai, Kakashi-sensei!" she exclaimed.

"Good luck!" he called out, watching as they vanished through the double doors.

'...And be careful...'

* * *

End Chapter 8


	10. Chapter 09

Chapter 9

* * *

"This place is a total freakshow!" Sakura exclaimed in frustration as she and the other two members of Team 7 made their way through the halls of the Administrative building towards room 301.

Arms folded behind her head in a laidback stance, Naruto glanced at her sideways. "Whaddya mean, Sakura-neechan?"

"I mean," the pink-haired kunoichi said, paying no mind to the change in honorific the blonde usually attached to her name. For some reason she found it to be a nice change. Regardless, she continued on with her raid. "We've barely been in this place 15 minutes and we're already being tested! It's ridiculous!"

After leaving their sensei, the three genin had entered the building and traversed the stairs to their destination. They were derailed, however, by the group of participants huddled outside a door guarded by two older genin. Claiming they were weeding the weaklings out of the competition, they had even gone so far to attack anyone who tried to get past them.

"Aw, it wasn't so bad," said Naruto.

"Wasn't so bad?" Sasuke had approached the two ninja, calling them out on the fact the door they guarded was not the examination room, but a genjutsu made to make everyone believe it was. Everything had gone downhill from there. The older genin had moved to attack her male teammate - who seemed all to happy to comply to his wishes - only to be stopped by the most peculiar ninja she had ever had the misfortune of coming across. He was dressed in a horrid green jumpsuit, a bizarre bowl hair cut complete with the thickest eyebrows she had ever seen. And to make matters worse, he had hit on her! With Sasuke-kun right there!

Ignoring Sakura's inner-turmoil, Sasuke remained silent as he walked between the two kunoichi, his mind also on the events that had just occurred. He had known they had walked into a genjutsu by the way Sakura had tensed beside him. She'd always had an aptitude for it in the Academy... not like he kept track of her or anything. However, he'd found it strange that Naruto hadn't seemed to notice anything amiss. Was she weak against Genjutsu? Despite himself, he felt a sudden thrill at the thought of there being something at which the blonde didn't naturally excel. Realizing this brought a frown to his face; was he really that insecure? Did it take so little to make him feel better about himself?

'I'm an Avenger.. all I need to concern myself is getting stronger...' He cast a look at the blonde that went unnoticed. 'And once I do...'

Naruto suddenly stopped, staring up at the balcony above them that connected to the third floor.

"What's the matter?" Both Sakura and Sasuke followed his gaze, the former paling at the sight of the same green clad ninja sitting perched on the balcony railing.

Sasuke scowled at the other ninja. He remembered him jumping in to block the kick he had aimed at the older genin. He'd moved so quickly, blocking his blow with such ease. 'He'd been holding back... like Naruto...' "You again... what do you want?"

The other ninja nodded, studying them all closely. "You are the famous Team 7, correct?"

Naruto and Sakura blinked in unison. "Famous?"

"Who wants to know?" Sasuke asked.

The green clad ninja grinned, his teeth giving off a shiny 'ping!' as he jumped down from his perch with a flourish. "I am the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha," he exclaimed, striking a pose. "Rock Lee!"

All three members of Team 7 stared at him in silence.

The first to recover, Naruto let out a small sound of recognition. "You're the guy from downstairs, ne? The one that broke up the fight between Sasuke and that other guy?"

Sasuke gave her a look as if to say, 'you forgot that already?'.

Lee nodded. "That's correct." He turned to Sasuke, his expression eager. "I apologize for interrupting your fight. I wish to make it up by challenging you to a duel here and now."

He blinked before scowling once more. He didn't need any handouts, certainly not from this weirdo. "Save it for the actual exam." he bit out.

"I cannot," Lee insisted. "There is someone I wish to face here in these exams and I would like to test my skills against someone at a similar level... who would be better than the last of the Uchiha clan and #1 rookie of this year's graduating class." He paused and gave Sasuke a knowing grin. "You are him, are you not?"

His Sharingan activated and he shifted into a taijutsu stance. "You want me to prove it to you?"

The other ninja's grin widened. "Please do..."

"Sasuke-kun!"

The kunoichi's voice seemed to spur the two males into action. The two of them rushed towards each other, legs raised to disable each other with powerful kick. Suddenly there was a flash of orange and then Naruto was between them, grabbing their feet to keep their blows from connecting.

Both Lee and Sasuke blinked in surprise.

The green clad ninja stared at Naruto in surprise. "You should not have been able to block that..." he awed.

Releasing them, Naruto rotated her shoulders with a rueful grin. "Well, it *was* kinda hard to do if that makes you feel any better..." She glanced at the orange leg-warmers covering his legs. 'Damn, his leg was heavy... is he...?'

"Naruto," Her dark haired teammate was scowling at her. She blinked in confusion; what was his problem now? "Get out of the way... this doesn't concern you."

She frowned right back at him. "Yeah, it does," she said. "If you two morons get caught fighting before the exam starts and get disqualified, so do me an' Sakura-neecha-" She turned to their teammate only to find her fighting to maintain her sanity.

Lee was currently blowing air-kisses at her, causing her to nimbly avoid each heart-shaped symbol of love fired her way. Naruto thought she was doing quite well for one who seemed so unsure of her own abilities. The poor girl was ducking and weaving as if her life was at stake.

Sasuke was twitching slightly, his anger at Naruto momentarily forgotten. "Just who is this guy...?"

"Beats me..." Naruto answered, finding the two's antics amusing.

"Please allow me the pleasure of a date, beloved angel," Lee wooed. "I promise to protect you 'til the day I die!" His teeth pinged for effect and he blew her yet another kiss.

"Noooo!" Sakura ducked down low, spinning out of the way as if it were a poison-tipped kunai. 'I could never date this guy!' "That suit and those eyebrows... so creepy!"

"B-but, Sakura-san!" Lee began.

"Lee, there you are!" All four genin froze as another figure emerged on the balcony ledge. However, only Lee remained unphased when a ninja that looked remarkably like an older version of Lee, dropped down in front of them. Team 7's horror only increased when he reared back and decked the boy, sending him sliding across the room.

"Oi, what the hell was that for?!" Naruto exclaimed, only to gawk when Lee jumped back up as if nothing had happened.

The twin ninja remained oblivious. "Lee!" the older man exclaimed. "How could you abandon your teammates? Don't you realize that the exam is about to start!"

"I am sorry, Gai-sensei," Lee cried out. "I only wanted to scope out the competition!"

'So I'm the competition...?' Sasuke thought to himself. 'I wonder who else I have to look out for...'

"I understand your drive, Lee," His instructor, Gai, replied. "But it is only through teamwork and unity that one can achieve true victory!" He gave the boy a thumb's up.

"G-Gai-sensei..." Lee awed, his eyes watering.

"Lee..."

"Gai-sensei...!" Much to the other genin's horror, the two ninja embraced each other enthusiastically, a backdrop of waves crashinga gainst the rocks apearing behind them.

"Wha... what the heck is this?" Sakura murmured, mortified.

Sasuke's face was a faint shade of green.

Gai released his student, turning to the members of Team 7. He studied them all closely. "Ah, so I take it you three are Team 7?" he asked. "Well, what do you know, Kakashi did take on a team after all."

"You know our sensei?" Sakura blinked.

"Know him? Why, he's only my esteemed ever-eternal rival!"

"Rival?"

Gai grinned. "That's right! We've engaged each other numerous times in combat with the score currently standing at 50-51!"

"No way!" Sakura gaped.

"It *is* true!" Lee exclaimed. "Sensei does not lie!"

Amused by their antics, Naruto grinned and walked towards the two matching ninja. "You already know Sakura and Sasuke, so I guess I should introduce myself, too, ne?" Her grin widened. "I'm Naruto."

The Jounin intructor grinned in response. "It is a pleasure to meet you and your teammates, Naruto," he said. "I am the Beautiful Azure Beast of Konoha, Maito Gai!" For effect, he struck a strange little pose that was probably supposed to be dramatic, but only ended up looking... bizarre.

'Is this for real...?' Sasuke thought to himself. 'Is this guy really as strong as Kakashi...?'

'He's a total weirdo...!' Sakura finished.

"In any case, you four need to run along," he cautioned. "The test is going to start soon. You don't want to be late."

Lee saluted. "Hai, Gai-sensei!"

"And, Lee...?"

"Yes, Gai-sensei?"

The Jounin gave him a thumbs up complete with blinding smile. "Good luck!"

"Yosh!" The boy returned it.

Sakura and Sasuke sported similar bland expressions. 'Weirdos...'

Watching as the two bounded away, Naruto merely folded her arms behind her head and laughed out loud. What interesting people would she come across next?

"That was..." Sakura made a face, struggling for words. "Interesting..."

"Yeah," the blonde agreed, turning back to glance at her.

"Those eyebrows..." The pink haired kunoichi shuddered in remembrance. "They looked like furry, black caterpillars!"

Naruto blinked. "What's wrong with caterpillars?" she asked. "They eventually grow up to become butterflies."

Sakura had nothing to say to that.

"But in any case, we gotta be careful." The blonde's expression turned thoughtful. "Geji-mayu's sensei could'a disqualified us to give his team an advantage." She gave Sasuke a pointed look, that he returned with a scowl.

"Only a proctor has the power to do that," Sakura argued. "At the very least he might have reported us."

"Whatever," Sasuke snorted. "I'm only here to fight strong opponents." The glare he directed at Naruto intensified. "Next time, don't get in my way. I can fight battles on my own."

She frowned as he started to walk away. "Sasuke," He stopped, but didn't look back. "Being on a team means you don't hafta fight alone... don't you get that yet?"

~ "Teammates look after each other... If it's not too much a bother, you can let me look after you, too…" ~

~ "I told you I don't abandon my teammates! And certainly not my friends! So just shut up cuz you're stuck with me!" ~

For a long moment he didn't speak. "We may be teammates now," he said softly. "But eventually it's gonna be every man for himself..."

"Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura's eyes widened in confusion.

Her soft call went ignored. "You and I are gonna face each other at one point or another," He turned back to look at her, his eyes dark. "And when that time comes don't hold anything back."

Naruto stared at him speechless.

Sasuke turned away once more, walking towards the stairs that would lead them to their destination. "C'mon, let's go."

Unsure of how to react, Sakura gave Naruto a look before following after him. Waiting a few seconds longer, the blonde let out a huff before jogging after them.

oooo

They stepped into the assigned room, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room fall upon them. Sakura felt slight intimidated, but the presence of her teammates on either side of her bolstered her courage. She didn't back down under the hostility felt in those gazes, feeling for the briefest of moments that she could take on just about anything.

"No way! Forehead girl actually decided to show her abnormally large head!"

The pink-haired kunoichi tensed and then glared at the long-haired blonde that sneered at her before attaching herself to her teammate like a remora. "Sasuke-kuunn, you made it!"

"Get. Off."

"Hey, get your slimy hands off of Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!"

Naruto blinked, surprised to see that sort of hostility directed at someone else for a change. She recognized the other blonde as Yamanaka Ino, one of the most skilled kunoichi in their graduating class. An image of a younger Ino comforting an equally young Sakura briefly came to mind. It completely contrasted against the malice and dislike the two girls displayed towards each other. 'But... aren't they supposed to be friends? Why are they so mad at each other...?'

A bored voice drew her from her thoughts. "Don't those two ever quit... So troublesome..."

She turned and grinned, recognizing the voice as belonging to none other than Nara Shikamaru. At his side, munching on a large bag of chips was his childhood friend and teammate, Akimichi Chouji. "So, you guys are here, too?"

He frowned lightly, throwing a glance in the direction of the two squabbling girls. "Didn't have much say in the matter..." The blonde only laughed.

At the sight of the their familiar faces, Naruto's grin widened even further. Before becoming a genin, Naruto had spent many cut classes in the laidback boy's company, along with his childhood friend Akimichi Chouji. The two of them were still unaware that she was a girl, but despite that, Naruto had always considered them friends.

"Ah, don't sweat it, I'm sure you'll do fine..."

"That's rich, coming from a loser like you..." She turned to stare down the wild look ninja standing behind her, resisting the urge to growl in annoyance. The taller boy, dressed in a thick, fur-line hood smirked down at her. "Don't know why you bother showing up, Uzumaki... everybody knows you're never gonna make it past the first round."

"That a fact, Kiba?" Another old classmate of hers, Inuzuka Kiba, had always made it a mission to point out all of her shortcomings - despite the fact that they were a part of an act - for a reason she had yet to identify. Why bother trying to bully somone who wasn't intimidated by you? To illustrate that fact, she turned her attention from him to the small white puppy tucked in the front of his hoody. A grin stole across her face as she gave the small animal a small pat on the head. "Hiya there, Akamaru! Doin' all right?"

The small dog yapped his amusement, leaning into the blonde's ministrations. Kiba was flabbergasted. "Akamaru!"

Naruto glanced back up at him, her grin turning slightly feral. "Say all ya like, Kiba," she said. "but I'm gonna make you eat those words."

"Keh... yeah right...!"

oooo

He was right there in front of her.. so close that she could reach out and touch him if she wanted. She didn't dare of course - what would he say to her? How would he react? Standing behind her silent partner, Aburame Shino, the even quiet Hyuuga Hinata wrung her hands together nervously, debating whether or not to approach the object of her crush.

'What should I say to him...?' she wondered, not for the first time. 'Will he be happy to see me...?' There was a shifting of cloth and she looked up to see Shino stepping out from in front of her. "Sh-shino-kun...?"

He didn't respond, only giving her a meaningful look behind his dark glasses.

The Hyuuga heiress nodded and gulped, slowly approaching her crush. She only got a few paces however when her path was cut off by another taller ninja with silver hair in glasses.

'Na-Naruto-kun...'

"You guys should really calm it down," he said, adjusting his glasses as he scrutinized the Rookie 9. "You're drawing a lot of attention to yourselves."

"What does it matter?" Ino asked.

"Well," he sighed patiently. "You guys are all rookies right? You've already got that against you... a lot of people here already resent you because they've been waiting years to participate in the exam while you guys are here straight out of the Academy. This isn't a game we're playing... you need to be cautious."

"I suppose we should thank you for the advice," Kiba said grudgingly. "But just who are you? And why are you warning us?"

"Oh, how rude of me! I'm Yakushi Kabuto," He bowed and then smiled, fingering the leaf hitai-ate adorned on his forehead. "Us Leaf Ninja have to stick together, ne?"

"Have you participated in the Chunin Exams before, Yakushi-san?" Sakura asked.

"Kabuto is just fine," he said. "And yes, this would be my seventh time participating."

The Rookie 9 paused and stared at him. Seven times...? How many people would go through an exam that many times just to fail over and over again. Was it truly that difficult?

Understanding the meaning behind their gazes, Kabuto smiled. "Information gathering is my specialty, not combat..."

"Information gathering?"

The silver haired ninja turned his gaze towards the Uchiha. "I specialize in gathering information on other ninja," He drew a pack of cards out of his weapons pouch. "Each card in this deck, when charged with my chakra, displays information on each of the participants in this year's exam."

Sasuke was intrigued. "Every participant?"

Kabuto smiled. "Is there someone in particular you want to learn more about?"

The dark haired ninja grinned. "Yeah... as a matter of fact there is..."

oooo

The three Sound ninja sat in the back of the other room, surveying the Leaf ninjas' antics with a critical eye. The short blonde had just told off the silver haired ninja with glasses, as well as the Uchiha about snooping through people's personal information while they were present. Did he know that nothing was secret in a village full of ninja?

"That little one is obnoxious..." one ninja by the name of Zaku scoffed. "Whatsis name? Umazaki?"

"It doesn't matter," said another, Dosu. "He's not our target." He paused, resting a hand on his arm. "But if he manages to get in the way..."

Zaku grinned knowingly. "We kill him?"

Dosu nodded.

Kin rolled her eyes at the excitement in her teammates' eyes. She couldn't help but share their excitement however. "Hmph... this is gonna be fun."

oooo

Naruto sped through the trees, cursing lightly under her breath. Even though they'd managed their way through the written part of the exam ( who had expected it to be psychological? really?!) Naruto had known the rest was going to be far from a cake walk. After all, what test would be simple when it took place in something called the 'Forest of Death'?

Her clothes were dirty and smudged, her hair looking as if she'd been caught in a windstorm - which she had. In fact, she'd been attacked by Ame ninja, separated from her teammates by a hug gust of wind, and then devoured by by a giant snake! 'Creepy Proctor Lady never mentioned anything about that thing! This is ridiculous!' Leaping from one tree to another, she let out a low growl of frustration. She had to track down her teammates and fast! In the distance the trees lit up with a plume of flame. A Katon jutsu no doubt... 'Is that Sasuke...?' With a powerful leap helped her break through the trees as she honed in on the presence of her teammates. What she saw was totally unexpected.

Sakura stood to the side, her whole body paralyzed in fear as she watched with wide eyes as Sasuke engaged a Kusa ninja. From her eyes it couldn't even be considered a fight. Even though his Sharingan was activated, it was plain to see that Sasuke was just as terrified of this ninja as Sakura. 'Just what the heck is going on...?'

Sasuke suddenly stumbled back with a yell as the Grass ninja rushed towards him, her body stretching and coiling as she went, almost like a snake's. Wasting no time, Naruto drew a handful of shuriken from her pouch, throwing them in the older nin's path to halt her attack. "Leave my teammates alone!"

The Grass ninja halted, staring up at the blonde with narrowed eyes. "Ah, so you survived my snake..." She pouted. "Pity."

Naruto dropped down on the branch in front of Sasuke, bristling. "For you," she hissed. "I don't appreciate being nearly eaten alive... and I don't like that you're picking on my friends."

The lull in battle brought Sasuke back to his senses, chakra charged eyes falling on that of his teammate. 'Naruto... when did she get here...?' It took a few seconds for him to realize that she was standing between him and the Grass ninja. "Be careful..." he hissed, rising to his feet painfully. "That woman... isn't human..."

The Kusa nin smirked.

"What're you talking about?" Naruto blinked. Sasuke didn't answer her, keeping his eyes on the ninja in front of them. Though he was lucid and alert, his body still trembled in fear. 'What's with him... it's like back in Nami... What did this lady do to him?'

From her perch on the adjacent tree, Sakura bit her lip in worry. 'Sasuke-kun...'

"He's right to be frightened," the older ninja said softly, a sinister smile spreading across her face slowly. "Prey can always sense when they are in the presence of a predator." She tilted her head back, laughing maniacally.

~ "Foolish little brother..." ~

Her eyes focused on him and Sasuke backed up, his Sharingan fading away to normal black.

~ "You are weak... Your hatred is not strong enough..." ~

The blonde beside him stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.

~ "...Weak..." ~

"Sasuke, snap out of it!"

"NARUTO, WATCH OUT!"

At Sakura's frantic call, Naruto looked up to see the other ninja rushing towards them murder in her eyes. Quick to act, the blonde pushed her teammate out of the way only to be slammed into the trunk of the tree. The ninja pinned her in place with a kunai to her arm, eliciting a scream of pain.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed. "Sasuke-kun, do something!" The Uchiha just stared, his eyes wide in horror. "Sasuke-kun?!"

"There, there now," the Grass ninja cooed. "Why don't you stay out of my way like a good little ninja..." She trailed off, staring at the blonde below her.

Naruto was staring up at her with a snarl on her face, her features slowly changing under the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra. She grasped the other ninja's kunai in her clawed hand, pulling it out as if it were a mere splinter.

The ninja's eyes widened in surprise at the sight. 'Ah, so you're *that* brat, eh...?' Her grin widened, only to be halted when the blonde launched towards her, knocking her away with almost inhuman strength.

"Naruto?!" Sakura gasped.

Her cry went unheard by the blonde. She could feel indescribable anger towards this ninja in front of her, an overpowering need to kill. And yet she didn't even know this person... right?

~ KILL IT... ~ A voice in her head echoed. She remembered it - she'd heard it once before back in Nami no Kuni. ~ KILL IT FOR WHAT IT HAS DONE TO US... KILL IT!~

Sasuke stared at the blonde as she tossed the kunai - that had currently been lodge in her arm - to the ground as if it were some useless thing. "Na... Naruto...?"

Red eyes that definitely were not Sharingan turned on him, narrowing in distaste. "What's the matter, Sasuke?" she sneered. "I thought you could fight your own battles?"

He scowled, clenching his fists at his sides. "I am NOT weak..."

"Of course not," the Kusa ninja said. "The #1 Rookie of your class... Sasuke of the Uchiha clan... What does some nobody orphan know about your strength?"

Naruto let out a hiss, turning her attention back to the enemy nin. "What did you say?"

"I've done my research," she replied. "What right does some talentless riff raff have to look down on one of the greatest Kekkei Genkai holders your village has to offer?"

"You shut your mouth!"

The grass ninja smirked as the blonde rushed towards her in fury. 'Too predictable...' She rushed to meet her head on, hand extended with chakra pooling at the end of her fingertips. She rammed into into Naruto's abdomen, causing her to let out a furious roar. "FIVE-PRONGED SEAL!"

Almost as if a light switch had been hit, the youki faded from Naruto's presence so quickly that she faded into blissful unconsciousness. Unfortunately, once unconscious, she slipped from the tree and plummeted towards the ground.

Sakura screamed in horror. "NARUTO!"

* * *

End Chapter 9


End file.
